Practicing attachment in the real world: improving maternal insightfulness and dyadic emotional availability at an outpatient community mental health clinic

ABSTRACT: The purpose of the study was to examine the efficacy of an attachment-based intervention program practiced at an outpatient clinic. Changes in parental insightfulness and dyadic emotional availability were assessed in 32 mother–child dyads from pre- to post-intervention. At both data collection points, mothers were interviewed with the Insightfulness Assessment and the mother–child dyad was observed in play sessions coded with the Emotional Availability Scales. Findings revealed a strong association between maternal insightfulness and dyadic emotional availability, both before and after treatment. In terms of intervention efficacy, positive gains were observed in both insightfulness and dyadic emotional availability from pre- to post-intervention. Mothers who changed their classifications from non-insightful to insightful following the intervention showed the greatest gains in emotional availability. These findings have important implications for the type of interventions and service delivery model that could work in real world clinical settings.