African mothers experiences of the 'New Beginnings' mother-infant group psychotherapy programme : reflecting on mothering while living in a shelter.

摘要

Infant mental health in South Africa has been receiving more attention in recentudyears. Mothers appear to be the main caregivers of infants but they face manyudpsychosocial, economic and cultural challenges. There exists very little evidenceudsuggesting that mothers living in shelters or institutions have access to theudnecessary support and education to help them to understand their circumstancesudand how this may impact on the attachment with their infant. The New BeginningsudProgramme, as an early intervention model, is aimed at improving attachmentudbetween mother and infant so as to reduce the potential risk of mental healthudproblems later in life for the infants, the mothers and future generations. Thisudevidence based intervention focuses on the mother and her capacity forudmentalisation, which refers to the mother’s capacity to hold her infant in mind andudrecognise and respond to the inner states of the infant. The pilot study of the NewudBeginnings Programme within a South African context took place in two shelters inudthe Greater Johannesburg area. This particular study formed part of this biggerudresearch effort. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of the mothersudwho attended the New Beginnings programme. A secondary aim was to exploreudthese mothers’ experiences of the programme within the context of living in a shelter.udThe adaptation of this programme to a South African context could contributeudsignificantly to bridging the gap in mother-infant attachment which could influenceudthe future mental health of the infant and their ability to foster ongoing healthyudattachments later in life. This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews and audnarrative analysis from the theoretical perspective of psychoanalytic attachmentudtheory. Thirteen mothers from two shelters participated in this research study.