Engaging Caregivers In The Service Of Their Child?s Mental Health: An Examination Of Emotion Focused Family Therapy In Relation To Parental Reflective Functioning

This study examined parental reflective functioning (PRF - a genuine interest in understanding a child’s mental states and ability to recognize the inherent complexity, and separation of these states from that of the parents) withing the context of a brief, 2-day intensive Emotion- Focused Family Therapy (EFFT) intervention. We also examined how PRF impacts therapeutic outcomes for caregivers and their children. PRF has been noted to be a key factor in parent-child dyad functioning and subsequent child development, however, there have been no studies to date examining its role as a potential mechanism of therapeutic change in EFFT. Method: Symptom change was assessed among 243 participants undergoing a brief 2-day intensive EFFT caregiver workshop. The average age of participants was 44.93 years (SD = 7.59), approximately 68.8% identified as female, and 87.6% identified as Caucasian. Data were collected at six timepoints: registration, pre-treatment, post-treatment, 4 months, 8 months, and 12 months following treatment. Participants completed questionnaires about child psychological symptoms and emotion regulation, as well as parental self-efficacy, parental blocks, and parental reflective functioning. Results: Significant improvements in levels of parent mentalization (a component of PRF) were found, confirming that EFFT is effective in improving parental mentalizing capacity. Additionally, moderate interactions were found between various components of PRF (mentalizing capacity, and parents’ interest & curiosity) and level of fears surrounding parenting in reducing child symptomatology. However, the findings are variable and warrant further investigation.