Attachment theory proposes that the early parent-child relationship forms the foundation for the way in which a child learns about people and the world around them (Bowlby, 1969a). Poor attachment experiences are shown to have significant implications for children's development and society as a whole. One solution posed is that professionals support parents early on to promote a positive parent-child interaction. The current qualitative study was carried out to understand the experiences of seven parents who had taken part in the UK based Time Together home visiting intervention. All parents had been referred to the intervention due to concerns about the parent being socially isolated and/or having difficulties in their relationship with their child. All parents were interviewed after they had taken part, and key themes were identified based upon an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) using a social constructionist epistemology. The key findings were that, through the intervention, parents experienced a change within their notion of self, seeing their child as a separate self and seeing the world through their child's eyes. Play activities promoted greater levels of attunement and fun within the parent-child relationship. Fundamental to the success of the intervention was the parent's relationship with their home visitor, which often empowered parents. Social isolation was seen as a self devised strategy used to limit social interactions that evoked feelings of fear. The creation of a conceptual model represented the process of how more socially isolated parents experiencing difficulties within the parent-child relationship can be supported to become more involved with their community. The implications for Educational Psychologists were discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:536614 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Essex, Rebecca Cathryn Louise |
| Publisher | University of East London |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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