Specialised field methods iii 2

• Family

  Who are the people you regard as FAMILY?
• People who you consider family

  • Write a list of all the people who you consider family
• Importance of family

  The importance of family and the consequences of what having no family or not belonging to a family might mean for you
• National Population, pg 30 Census Report, 2011
• Marital status of population aged 15 years and above, pg 33 Census Report, 2011
• Living arrangements of Namibian children under age 18 - Namibia Demographic and Health Survey 2013 (the most recent such study)
• Types of Families

  • Nuclear Family
  • Single- Parent Family
  • Blended Family (Step-Family)
  • Childless Couple
  • Multigenerational Household (Extended/kinship family)
  • Foster Family
  • Adoptive Family
  • Cohabitating Couples
  • Same Sex Couples
• Child-headed Family/household

  A family in which a minor (child or adolescent) has become the head of the household. They are most common in developing countries and areas of war, where the children's parents have been killed by conflict or disease.
• CHILDREN CAN GROW UP IN ANY OF THESE FAMILIES
• Attachment Theory

  British psychologist John Bowlby was the first attachment theorist, describing attachment as a "lasting psychological connectedness between human beings". Bowlby was interested in understanding the separation anxiety and distress that children experience when separated from their primary caregivers.
• Attachment Styles

  Psychologist Mary Ainsworth expanded upon Bowlby's work and described three major styles of attachment: secure attachment, ambivalent-insecure attachment, and avoidant-insecure attachment. Later, researchers Main and Solomon added a fourth attachment style called disorganized-insecure attachment.
• Attachment

  The capacity to form and maintain healthy emotional relationships which generally begin to develop in early childhood. It includes an enduring bond with a "special" person, security & safety within the context of this relationship, and soothing, comfort, & pleasure. Loss or threat of loss of the special person results in distress.
• Attachment behaviour is survival behaviour
• Human babies develop an internal working model of attachment behaviour which forms a blueprint for the future
• Feeding is not the basis for attachment. To attach is to survive.
• Attachment is not just about babies. It is the emotional bond that develops from the interactions between a child, his/her carer and the subsequent impact their experiences have on relationships with other people.
• Secure Internal Working Model

  I'm good, I'm wanted, I'm loved, I'm worthwhile, I'm competent, Loving, Trustworthy, Responsive, Caring, Sensitive, Worth Living, Safe, Enjoyable, Secure
• Insecure Internal Working Model

  I'm Helpless, I'm Bad, I'm unwanted, I'm unbelievable, Untrustworthy, Hurtful, Inattentive, Unresponsive, Not worth Living, Unsafe, Painful
• Key principle of attachment theory

  Dependence leads to independence. It is only when a child feels confident in his/her parent's availability that s/he can fully explore and play on his/her own.
• Attachment Figures

  • The ones who are most responsive to crying and to interact socially (for children)
  • The ones who are most responsive to anxiety/fear and to social interaction (for adults)
• Insecure Attachments

  • Insecure Avoidant: Avoidant reaction to care giver's attempts at attunement. Associated with angry or defiant presentation in children.
  • Insecure ambivalent: Fluctuates between anger towards the parent and rejecting and wanting closeness. Associated with children who are emotional and overwhelmed by anxiety.
  • Insecure disorganised: Show confusing contradictory attachment behaviour. The child may show an angry outburst and then be dazed or try to escape. The child may have a 'frozen watchfulness' of the maltreated child. The child may sit on caregiver's lap but be physically stiff and with eyes averted from the carer.
• Insecure attachments are associated with unresponsive caregiver and negative outcomes for the child
• Effects of Insecure Attachment

  • "Others treat me badly" – parents, teachers, peers
  • Punishment, rejection, reinforce IWM
  • Negative Working Models
  • "I am bad, unlovable"
  • Unsafe, unreliable
  • Behavioural Problems
  • "I will act badly"
  • Aggressive
  • Oppositional
  • dishonest
• A child should receive the continuous care of this single most important attachment figure for approximately the first two years of life
• If the attachment figure is broken or disrupted during the critical two year period the child will suffer irreversible long-term consequences of this maternal deprivation
• Internal Working Model

  A cognitive framework comprising mental representations for understanding the world, self and others. A person's interaction with others is guided by memories and expectations from their internal model which influence and help evaluate their contact with others.
• Around the age of three these internal working models seem to become part of a child's personality and thus affects their understanding of the world and future interactions with others
• Long term consequences of maternal deprivation

  • delinquency
  • reduced intelligence
  • increased aggression
  • depression
  • affectionless psychopathy
• Affectionless psychopathy

  An inability show affection or concern for others. Such of individuals act on impulse with little regard for the consequences of their actions. For example, showing no guilt for antisocial behavior.
• Core dimensions intrinsic to all parents

  • The parent's state of mind regarding their own childhood attachments
  • The parent's degree of resolution regarding loss and trauma
  • The state of the marriage/adult sexual partnership
  • Family and Friends and community resources
  • The meaning of the child to the parent
• Modifiers that can affect parenting

  • Mental or physical illness
  • Learning Disability
  • Substance Misuse
  • Domestic Abuse
  • Reconstitution of the family
  • Adolescent motherhood
  • Socio economic systems – cultural norms about parenting
• Mental illness does not mean parents cannot bring up their children
• Severe cases of maltreatment are more likely to involve a psychiatric disorder
• Disorganised attachment in the child is associated with distorted thought processes in the parent
• A protective factor can be insight into the nature of their mental illness
• Physical illness or disability is only a threat to care-giving if it is so severe that parenting is no longer viable
• Learning disability is not a threat to the care-giving environment unless the ability of the parent to develop a "theory of mind" about their children is so severely compromised that the child is treated as a doll-like object
• Alcoholism and drug misuse may impact on spousal and wider support systems. Both issues may be an attempt to self- medicate mental health problems including unresolved loss and trauma.
• Rarely a single cause of child abuse. It is the interaction between child, family and parental elements/experiences etc. that determine the care-giving environment in any particular case.
• In some cultures, the idea of a child being intimately attached to a caregiver is strange. Child-rearing duties are more evenly distributed among a group of people.