Facilitating carers' mind-mindedness through education and early intervention
Lead Research Organisation:
University of York
Department Name: Psychology
Abstract
What determines the people we become? How does children's early environment affect their development? In order to answer these questions, my group's research involves working with the same families over years or even decades to chart children's development. These longitudinal studies involve families from wide-ranging social backgrounds and start when the baby is around 6 months of age. Our findings show that parents' ability to 'tune in' to what their baby might be thinking or feeling (so-called 'mind-mindedness') is an important predictor of a range of positive child outcomes (secure attachment, language and play, children's understanding of other people's thoughts and feelings). Parents who are skilled at 'reading' their babies' minds also report lower levels of parenting stress. Specifically for families in poverty, parents' ability to tune in to their babies' thoughts and feelings protects the child against problem behaviours at school-starting age. Our research thus shows the widespread benefits of parents' willingness to see things from the child's perspective.
Mind-mindedness focuses on very specific parenting behaviours and is relatively straightforward and quick to assess. The main research objective of this application is to develop and evaluate an intervention package that will inform parents in an accessible way about mind-mindedness. The intervention will consist of an animated film, short book and smartphone app that will help facilitate parents' mind-mindedness. The efficacy of this intervention package will be evaluated by exploring its impact on mother-baby interaction and child outcome in an at-risk sample (teenage mothers). The associated PhD studentships will explore (a) the relation between adoptive parents' mind-mindedness, success of the adoption placement and child outcome, and (b) mind-mindedness in childcare professionals and its relations with quality of caregiver-child interaction and child behaviour.
The intervention package is crucial for ensuring that our academic research has real-world implications and applications. There is increasing Government recognition that early intervention is key to improving the outcome of vulnerable children. For example, Field's (2010) report summarised how to prevent poor children from becoming poor adults as follows: "The things that matter most are a healthy pregnancy; good maternal mental health; secure bonding with the child; love and responsiveness of parents along with clear boundaries, as well as opportunities for a child's cognitive, language and social and emotional development" (p. 5). However, concluding that these factors are crucial is easier than establishing what to do to increase the number of vulnerable children having positive parenting experiences. My research can help inform Government thinking on early intervention in a number of important ways because mind-mindedness predicts outcomes in the key factors identified in Field's report. The main impact-related objective of this Fellowship is to extend my existing work with MPs, local government and charities to ensure that the academic research on mind-mindedness is used to inform policies and programmes relating to children and families. Delivering professional training courses to midwives, health visitors and nursery nurses will be a key component in meeting this objective.
The Fellowship research will be disseminated to academic audiences via a number of major research papers. A website and popular science book will disseminate the Fellowship activities to non-academic audiences.
Mind-mindedness focuses on very specific parenting behaviours and is relatively straightforward and quick to assess. The main research objective of this application is to develop and evaluate an intervention package that will inform parents in an accessible way about mind-mindedness. The intervention will consist of an animated film, short book and smartphone app that will help facilitate parents' mind-mindedness. The efficacy of this intervention package will be evaluated by exploring its impact on mother-baby interaction and child outcome in an at-risk sample (teenage mothers). The associated PhD studentships will explore (a) the relation between adoptive parents' mind-mindedness, success of the adoption placement and child outcome, and (b) mind-mindedness in childcare professionals and its relations with quality of caregiver-child interaction and child behaviour.
The intervention package is crucial for ensuring that our academic research has real-world implications and applications. There is increasing Government recognition that early intervention is key to improving the outcome of vulnerable children. For example, Field's (2010) report summarised how to prevent poor children from becoming poor adults as follows: "The things that matter most are a healthy pregnancy; good maternal mental health; secure bonding with the child; love and responsiveness of parents along with clear boundaries, as well as opportunities for a child's cognitive, language and social and emotional development" (p. 5). However, concluding that these factors are crucial is easier than establishing what to do to increase the number of vulnerable children having positive parenting experiences. My research can help inform Government thinking on early intervention in a number of important ways because mind-mindedness predicts outcomes in the key factors identified in Field's report. The main impact-related objective of this Fellowship is to extend my existing work with MPs, local government and charities to ensure that the academic research on mind-mindedness is used to inform policies and programmes relating to children and families. Delivering professional training courses to midwives, health visitors and nursery nurses will be a key component in meeting this objective.
The Fellowship research will be disseminated to academic audiences via a number of major research papers. A website and popular science book will disseminate the Fellowship activities to non-academic audiences.
Planned Impact
The main beneficiaries of this research will be parents and children, particularly those living in poverty. Academic papers published over the last decade have reported on the positive child and family outcomes associated with higher levels of maternal mind-mindedness, with a protective effect of mind-mindedness against children's behavioural difficulties specifically in the context of low socioeconomic status. The first main aim of this Fellowship is to develop an intervention to facilitate mind-mindedness that is quick and easy to administer on a large scale, is comprehensible to vulnerable and hard-to-reach groups and can be easily incorporated into everyday life to minimise drop out. If this intervention is found to be effective, it will have the potential to have a major impact on the wellbeing of young children. Even if the positive effect of the intervention is small, with only a minority of parents benefitting, it will still have the potential for considerable benefit given that the costs of the intervention are minimal and it can thus be administered on a large scale.
The second main aim of the Fellowship is to ensure that the intervention and the results of its evaluation are brought to the attention of policy-makers via the applicant's network of contacts with MPs and local government representatives. Local and national government will be extremely interested in an intervention that is effective in improving the wellbeing of vulnerable mothers and their babies at minimal cost. This research will also be of interest to charities whose work focuses on children, families or poverty. Existing contacts in these organisations will enable the applicant to ensure that these findings can be applied as widely as possible to benefit these vulnerable groups. Facilitating parents' mind-mindedness will mean that children's outcome is likely to be improved in crucial areas such as language, play, and behaviour, all of which are key components of children's school readiness, and thus their academic engagement and achievement. Previous national initiatives aimed at tackling problems associated with child poverty, such as Sure Start, have largely failed. I believe this failure is due to the inability of Sure Start to target its activities specifically at families most in need, and a lack of standardisation and evidence-base in its schemes. Given that the Coalition Government is currently piloting a new parenting scheme to replace Sure Start, the Fellowship would be ideally timed to help policy-makers ensure that any new national programme is based on sound evidence and will be effective in reaching the most needy families. The Fellowship activities thus have considerable potential for increasing the effectiveness of public services and policy.
The professional training that will be delivered as part of the Fellowship will benefit professionals working with families and children (e.g., social workers, midwives, health visitors, nursery nurses). This professional training will be complemented by the research on mind-mindedness in (a) the adoption process, and (b) childcare settings, that will be conducted in the two Fellowship-linked Studentships. The first studentship will explore whether adoptive parents' mind-mindedness at the start of the placement predicts the success of the adoption and children's outcome. This research has the potential to benefit both professionals and families involved in adoption by helping to identify adoptive parents who are most in need of support. The second studentship will evaluate whether childcare professionals benefit from mind-mindedness training, providing data that can inform childcare practice.
My research has identified aspects of early infant-mother interaction that may ultimately enable today's disadvantaged children to become tomorrow's university graduates. The Fellowship's impact-related activities aim to make significant progress toward achieving this goal.
The second main aim of the Fellowship is to ensure that the intervention and the results of its evaluation are brought to the attention of policy-makers via the applicant's network of contacts with MPs and local government representatives. Local and national government will be extremely interested in an intervention that is effective in improving the wellbeing of vulnerable mothers and their babies at minimal cost. This research will also be of interest to charities whose work focuses on children, families or poverty. Existing contacts in these organisations will enable the applicant to ensure that these findings can be applied as widely as possible to benefit these vulnerable groups. Facilitating parents' mind-mindedness will mean that children's outcome is likely to be improved in crucial areas such as language, play, and behaviour, all of which are key components of children's school readiness, and thus their academic engagement and achievement. Previous national initiatives aimed at tackling problems associated with child poverty, such as Sure Start, have largely failed. I believe this failure is due to the inability of Sure Start to target its activities specifically at families most in need, and a lack of standardisation and evidence-base in its schemes. Given that the Coalition Government is currently piloting a new parenting scheme to replace Sure Start, the Fellowship would be ideally timed to help policy-makers ensure that any new national programme is based on sound evidence and will be effective in reaching the most needy families. The Fellowship activities thus have considerable potential for increasing the effectiveness of public services and policy.
The professional training that will be delivered as part of the Fellowship will benefit professionals working with families and children (e.g., social workers, midwives, health visitors, nursery nurses). This professional training will be complemented by the research on mind-mindedness in (a) the adoption process, and (b) childcare settings, that will be conducted in the two Fellowship-linked Studentships. The first studentship will explore whether adoptive parents' mind-mindedness at the start of the placement predicts the success of the adoption and children's outcome. This research has the potential to benefit both professionals and families involved in adoption by helping to identify adoptive parents who are most in need of support. The second studentship will evaluate whether childcare professionals benefit from mind-mindedness training, providing data that can inform childcare practice.
My research has identified aspects of early infant-mother interaction that may ultimately enable today's disadvantaged children to become tomorrow's university graduates. The Fellowship's impact-related activities aim to make significant progress toward achieving this goal.
People |
ORCID iD |
Elizabeth Meins (Principal Investigator / Fellow) |
Publications
Arkle P
(2023)
Early psychosocial risk factors and postnatal parental reflective functioning.
in Infancy : the official journal of the International Society on Infant Studies
Barreto A
(2015)
Are adult mentalizing abilities associated with mind-mindedness?
in International Journal of Behavioral Development
Carrington S
(2023)
Are restricted and repetitive behaviours in two- and six-year-olds associated with emotional and behavioural difficulties?
in JCPP Advances
Centifanti LCM
(2016)
Callous-unemotional traits and impulsivity: distinct longitudinal relations with mind-mindedness and understanding of others.
in Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines
Davis PE
(2018)
Imaginary Companions in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
in Journal of autism and developmental disorders
Fishburn S
(2017)
Mind-mindedness in parents of looked-after children.
in Developmental psychology
Fishburn S
(2022)
Explaining the relation between early mind-mindedness and children's mentalizing abilities: The development of an observational preschool assessment.
in Developmental psychology
Greenhow, S
(2015)
Mind-mindedness in parents who adopted children from the care system
Larkin F
(2021)
Mind-mindedness versus mentalistic interpretations of behavior: Is mind-mindedness a relational construct?
in Infant mental health journal
Larkin F
(2019)
Predisposing Factors for Elevated Restricted and Repetitive Behavior in Typically Developing Toddlers.
in Infancy : the official journal of the International Society on Infant Studies
Larkin F
(2017)
How does restricted and repetitive behavior relate to language and cognition in typical development?
in Development and psychopathology
Meins E
(2017)
Longitudinal stability in mothers' mind-mindedness
Meins E
(2018)
Mother-Child Attachment From Infancy to the Preschool Years: Predicting Security and Stability.
in Child development
Meins E
(2019)
Mothers' Early Mind-Mindedness Predicts Educational Attainment in Socially and Economically Disadvantaged British Children.
in Child development
Meins E
(2016)
The Oxford handbook of perinatal psychology
Reese E
(2019)
Origins of mother-child reminiscing style.
in Development and psychopathology
Schacht R
(2017)
Proof of concept of a mind-mindedness intervention for mothers hospitalized for severe mental illness.
in Development and psychopathology
Zeegers M
(2019)
Does attachment security predict children's thinking-about-thinking and thinking-about-feeling? A meta-analytic review
in Developmental Review
Zeegers MAJ
(2017)
Mind matters: A meta-analysis on parental mentalization and sensitivity as predictors of infant-parent attachment.
in Psychological bulletin
Title | Mind-reading for beginners |
Description | A 10-minute animated film, providing an introduction to the construct of mind-mindedness. |
Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
Year Produced | 2014 |
Impact | The animation has been distributed internationally to researchers and practitioners working with parents and families. The animation is being used within professional practice to improve the quality of parenting. |
Description | Research over the last twenty years has shown that parents' ability to 'tune in' to their babies' thoughts and feelings (so-called mind-mindedness) predicts a wide range of positive aspects of children's development. This previous research has focused on predicting development across the first five years of life. The Professorial Fellowship aimed to build on these findings in three main ways. First, we investigated whether mind-mindedness in the first year of life predicts children's development over the longer term and in areas not previously studied. We found that mothers' early mind-mindedness predicted better understanding of other people's emotions at age 4, which in turn led to lower levels of callous-unemotional traits (not caring for other people's values or society's rules, lack of remorse, faking rather than feeling emotions) at age 10. We also found that in children from disadvantaged backgrounds, mothers' mind-mindedness in the first year of life predicted better attainment in national standardised assessment tests (SATs) at ages 7 and 11. The second aim was to investigate whether it is possible to teach parents to become more mind-minded. We developed an animated film and website to provide a user-friendly introduction to mind-mindedness, and a smartphone app to help parents become more mind-minded. The app sent users a daily alert providing information on psychological development in infancy, and a daily alert prompting parents to post a photograph or video clip to show what was on their baby's mind. The research team viewed the posts and commented to facilitate mind-mindedness. For example, if a posted comment was deemed to be mind-minded ("Molly was surprised to see a squirrel" accompanied by a photograph of the infant looking surprised), the researcher replied in the first person from the infant's point of view ("Oh, what's that?") or responded with a friendly comment, designed to provide reinforcement and positive feedback ("Great mind-reading!"). Where the comment was not mind-related ("We're heading out to the shops"), the researcher responded with a further prompt for mind-mindedness ("How does Emily feel about shopping?"), or again modelled speaking on behalf of the baby ("Let's go, Mummy!"). The users viewed the research team's responses in the app. We evaluated the effectiveness of the app on a sample of 240 mothers and babies by assessing mothers' mind-mindedness when their infants were 6 months. Mothers who had used the app since birth were significantly more mind-minded than mothers who had not used the app. Teenage mothers benefitted from using the app as much as their older counterparts, and teenage mothers who had used the app were more mind-minded than older mothers who had not used the app. Finally, the Fellowship aimed to establish closer links with professionals working with children and families to improve evidence-based practice. A professional training course on mind-mindedness has been developed and delivered to over 200 health visitors, midwives, childcare professionals and social workers from the UK and across Europe. The Fellow and PDRA also wrote the content of the postnatal parent support component of the NSPCC's Pregnancy in mind programme. |
Exploitation Route | Mind-mindedness has become an influential construct in since it was introduced in 1997. McMahon and Bernier (2017) published a major review article on mind-mindedness, and there are 2,630 references for the term on Google Scholar. We have continued to publish in high-impact peer-reviewed journals, and the findings associated with this Fellowship will inform ongoing research in this field. The development of a professional training course and Meins' presentations at practitioner conferences have provided effective routes for disseminating research findings to professionals working with children and families. Activities for facilitating parents' mind-mindedness are now integrated into health visiting practice in North Yorkshire. From May 2018, Bradford District NHS Trust's Perinatal Mental Health team will be delivering a community-based intervention to facilitate mind-mindedness in mothers with mental illness. A mind-mindedness intervention we developed for mothers hospitalised for severe mental illness has been shown to be effective, and there are plans for adopting the intervention as part of standard care practice on NHS mother and baby units. Better Start Bradford and Michigan-based Family Futures (large-scale programmes to provide children with the best start in life) plan to integrate interventions and activities for facilitating mind-mindedness in their work with families. Scheduled training courses in Wales and Scotland will lead to more widespread non-academic use of our research. |
Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Healthcare,Government, Democracy and Justice |
Description | Meins and Larkin (the PDRA on the award) have written the content of the postnatal support component of the Pregnancy in Mind programme for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC). Meins have provided training on mind-mindedness to NSPCC staff and a wide range of international professionals and researchers involved in working with parents and families. Our research has informed the professional practice of midwives, health visitors, early years teachers and perinatal mental health professionals across England, Wales and Scotland. Meins provided training and intervention materials for the staff working on the three London-based mother-and-baby units. These materials are now being used to inform standard care on the units. The Future Families organisation is using our materials in their intervention work with families in Michigan. This research was submitted as an Impact Case Study to REF2021. |
Sector | Healthcare,Other |
Impact Types | Societal |
Description | Member of the Working Group for the Development of a Ten Year Strategy for Children's and Young People's Mental Health at the Department of Health |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Membership of a guideline committee |
Description | Mind-mindedness training |
Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
Description | Mind-mindedness training for NSPCC staff |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
Description | Mind-mindedness training for health visitors |
Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
Description | National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children Pregnancy in Mind Programme |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
Description | Research grant scheme |
Amount | £774,069 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ES/R004706/1 |
Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 05/2018 |
End | 04/2021 |
Description | Health Visitors and Early Years |
Organisation | Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | I provided training courses and materials to all health visitors and associated early years professionals in North Yorkshire. |
Collaborator Contribution | They have incorporated the training and materials into their professional practice. |
Impact | The health professionals completed a follow-up session in which they presented and reflectied on how the training and materials had informed their practice. |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | NSPCC |
Organisation | National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | Collaboration with NSPCC to produce the materials associated with their Pregnancy in Mind programme. |
Collaborator Contribution | The NSPCC commissioned our work and are delivering this programme to parents in Swindon, Tidworth, Leeds and Bradford in preparation for national roll-out. |
Impact | Pregnancy in Mind book and associated materials on the NSPCC website. |
Start Year | 2013 |
Description | Perinatal mental health teams |
Organisation | Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Training courses in assessing and intervening to facilitate parents' mind-mindedness. |
Collaborator Contribution | Identifying practitioners who should attend the training. Using the training to inform professional practice. |
Impact | The intervention procedure we have developed is now being used in clinical practice. |
Start Year | 2018 |
Title | BabyMind |
Description | BabyMind is a smartphone app being used to deliver an intervention to new parents. |
Type Of Technology | Webtool/Application |
Year Produced | 2015 |
Impact | Parents can receive information on babies' psychological development via their smartphone. Engagement in the app aims to facilitate the quality of parent-child interaction. |
Description | Association of Infant Mental Health Scotland |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Talk to Association of Infant Mental Health Scotland as part of an online conference, which was then made available via their website. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Association of Infant Mental Health UK 20th anniversary conference |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | I presented a keynote speech on my research on mind-mindedness and the interventions we have developed to facilitate mind-mindedness in mothers in the community and in mothers hospitalised for severe mental illness. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Bookbug conference |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Talk at online Bookbug conference, which was then made available via their website. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Early Years Conference |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | I gave talks over two days to an audience of around 300 early years and children's services practitioners to inform them about my research findings and their relevance to their professional practice. Several organisations have since made contact to tell me that my research is being used in their service, or to ask for my involvement in desgning future services. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Minding the Baby: Royal Society for Medicine, Enabling 21st Century Parents Event |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Presentation describing the construct of mind-mindedness, explaining its role in predicting children's development and discussing how the research could be used to inform professional practice. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Minding the baby: Support from the Start Scotland |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Presentation describing the construct of mind-mindedness, explaining its role in predicting children's development and discussing how the research could be used to inform professional practice. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Non-academic conference |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Keynote presentation at a conference with other speakers who were MPs, policy-makers and BBC executives. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Scottish Early Years Workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A gave a keynote speech on mind-mindedness research and its relevant to professionals working with families and children. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Sure Start Northern Ireland |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Talk at online conference for Sure Start Northern Ireland practitioners, which was then made available to other practitioners via their internal network. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |