Combining attachment and mindfulness to improve family functioning: Pilot of an Attachment-Based Mindfulness program

ABSTRACT

The purpose of these two pilot studies was to create a program that addresses parents’ attachment styles in combination with mindfulness practice to improve family functioning for families of children with problem behavior. The Attachment-Based Mindfulness program (ABM) was piloted with two small independent samples. In Study 1 (N = 13), results from ABM were compared to a psychoeducation program, and in Study 2 (N = 11), pre-post analyses were conducted. Findings across the studies suggest that attending to parents’ attachment styles in combination with mindfulness practice may be a potential avenue for practitioners to improve family relationships.

KEYWORDS:

• Attachment
• intervention
• mindfulness
• parent-child relationship
• parenting

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the families who participated in this research, as well as Child and Youth Mental Health in Chilliwack, BC, who offered support and funds for running the interventions. This research was also supported by funding to the first and second author from the Student Led Research Grant at the University of the Fraser Valley.

This manuscript is based on the honors thesis of the first author, which contained the Study 1 parenting data. For the purposes of this publication, we have reanalyzed this data and added the Study 2 data, the child measure, and an exploratory moderation hypothesis. A portion of this data was also presented as a poster at the Canadian Psychological Association conference.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of the Fraser Valley [Student Led Research Grant].