Parenting During a Pandemic: Providing Online Parenting Support to Mothers of Infants

Background: Adverse experiences in early childhood can have short and long-term consequences on an individual’s physical and mental well-being (1). Inversely, secure attachments between infants and their parents help foster healthy social, emotional and cognitive child development (2). However, parenthood can be a period of heightened stress, even under ideal circumstances (3,4). The year 2020 brought forth new parenting challenges, with the presence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Increased levels of unemployment, financial insecurity, school closures, decreased communal support and social isolation led to augmented parental stress and burnout, which has shown to result in higher cases of abuse and neglect (3,4). Now more than ever, it is crucial that appropriate parenting interventions be available to families with infants (1). Programs like the Incredible Years™ Parents and Babies (IYPB), foster peer support networks and shared learning (5). This study aims to evaluate the impact of the IYPB curriculum for parents with infants.

Methods: IYPB is a structured parent-baby group. This pilot study will evaluate the effects of IYPB on parenting confidence, maternal attachment, and infant well-being and development. It will also evaluate the implementation and acceptance of IYPB online. Recruitment was limited to 36, English or Spanish speaking mothers and their infants aged 0-12 months. Four, 8 weeklong workshops of 9 mother-infant dyads each will be conducted by two trained facilitators through a secure virtual platform. Pre- and post-intervention questionaries will be completed (demographics, Ages and Stages, Edinburgh postnatal depression scale, maternal attachment inventory, Karitane parenting confidence scale). Parents will complete an evaluation after each class, and after the final session, they will complete a satisfaction survey and participate in a focus group.

Results: One online group with 9 parents took place from 2/13 to 4/10/2021. The average age of infants was 24 weeks and mean age of mothers was 31 years. Preliminary themes from focus group transcripts highlight the benefits of networking and learning from other parents and experts. Participants thought follow-up communication with facilitators was beneficial for those who felt alone during the pandemic. Some comments included: “I liked meeting with other moms and professionals in a safe space and learning skills to help with babies’ development. I also appreciated being able to talk in small groups and normalize our experiences as parents with young children and feel seen and heard.” “I just feel so much more capable and comfortable raising a child after having had these foundational building blocks”. Barriers to participation included time constraints, work obligations, and childcare.

Conclusion: Online parenting groups during a pandemic have allowed mothers to connect with one another and build support networks. Recruitment is ongoing and additional data will be collected and analyzed to determine the effects of IYPB on maternal attachment and infant development.