Effectiveness of interventions in preventing disorganized attachment: A meta-analysis

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Christopher R Facompré1, Kristin Bernard2, Theodore E A Waters1

  • 1New York University-Abu Dhabi.

Development and Psychopathology
|April 12, 2017
PubMed

Insights

Preventative interventions effectively increase organized infant attachment, reducing disorganized attachment. These programs show greater success in recent studies, for maltreated children, and with older children.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Clinical Psychology
  • Attachment Theory

Background:

  • Disorganized attachment is linked to adverse developmental outcomes.
  • Preventative interventions for infant attachment are gaining interest.
  • Targeting the infant attachment relationship is crucial for early development.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To meta-analyze the effectiveness of interventions preventing or reducing disorganized attachment in at-risk children.
  • To assess the impact of interventions on organized and disorganized attachment rates.

Main Methods:

  • Literature search of PsycINFO, MEDLINE, and ProQuest (1989-2016).
  • Included 16 studies (N=1,360) with control conditions.
  • Utilized the Strange Situation Procedure for attachment assessment.

Main Results:

  • Interventions significantly increased organized attachment rates compared to controls (d = 0.35).
  • Effectiveness was higher in recent studies, for maltreated samples, and with increasing child age.

Conclusions:

  • Attachment-based interventions are effective in promoting organized attachment.
  • Intervention strategies can be tailored based on study publication date, sample characteristics, and child age.
  • Findings inform future development and implementation of attachment interventions.

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