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Prevention of Mental Health Difficulties for Children Aged 0–3 Years: A Review

The period of infancy and early childhood is a critical time for interventions to prevent future mental health problems. The first signs of mental health difficulties can be manifest in infancy, emphasizing the importance of understanding and identifying both protective and risk factors in pregnancy...

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Autores principales: Izett, Elizabeth, Rooney, Rosanna, Prescott, Susan L., De Palma, Mia, McDevitt, Maryanne
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8579481/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34777074
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.500361
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author Izett, Elizabeth
Rooney, Rosanna
Prescott, Susan L.
De Palma, Mia
McDevitt, Maryanne
author_facet Izett, Elizabeth
Rooney, Rosanna
Prescott, Susan L.
De Palma, Mia
McDevitt, Maryanne
author_sort Izett, Elizabeth
collection PubMed
description The period of infancy and early childhood is a critical time for interventions to prevent future mental health problems. The first signs of mental health difficulties can be manifest in infancy, emphasizing the importance of understanding and identifying both protective and risk factors in pregnancy and the early postnatal period. Parents are at a higher risk of developing mental health problems during the perinatal period. An understanding of the evidence around prevention and intervention for parental anxiety and depression is vital to the process of prevention of early mental health disorders in infants and young children. Here we review the existing prevention and treatment interventions in the early years focusing on the period from conception to 3 years – the majority targeting parents in order to improve their mental health, and that of their infants. Elements of successful programs for parents include psychoeducation and practical skills training, as well as work on the co-parenting relationship, developing secure attachment, and enhancing parental reflective functioning. While both targeted and universal programs have produced strong effect sizes, universal programs have the added benefit of reaching people who may otherwise not have sought treatment. In synthesizing this information, our goal is to inform the development of integrated models for prevention and novel early intervention programs as early in life as possible.
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spelling pubmed-85794812021-11-11 Prevention of Mental Health Difficulties for Children Aged 0–3 Years: A Review Izett, Elizabeth Rooney, Rosanna Prescott, Susan L. De Palma, Mia McDevitt, Maryanne Front Psychol Psychology The period of infancy and early childhood is a critical time for interventions to prevent future mental health problems. The first signs of mental health difficulties can be manifest in infancy, emphasizing the importance of understanding and identifying both protective and risk factors in pregnancy and the early postnatal period. Parents are at a higher risk of developing mental health problems during the perinatal period. An understanding of the evidence around prevention and intervention for parental anxiety and depression is vital to the process of prevention of early mental health disorders in infants and young children. Here we review the existing prevention and treatment interventions in the early years focusing on the period from conception to 3 years – the majority targeting parents in order to improve their mental health, and that of their infants. Elements of successful programs for parents include psychoeducation and practical skills training, as well as work on the co-parenting relationship, developing secure attachment, and enhancing parental reflective functioning. While both targeted and universal programs have produced strong effect sizes, universal programs have the added benefit of reaching people who may otherwise not have sought treatment. In synthesizing this information, our goal is to inform the development of integrated models for prevention and novel early intervention programs as early in life as possible. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-09-29 /pmc/articles/PMC8579481/ /pubmed/34777074 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.500361 Text en Copyright © 2021 Izett, Rooney, Prescott, De Palma and McDevitt. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Izett, Elizabeth
Rooney, Rosanna
Prescott, Susan L.
De Palma, Mia
McDevitt, Maryanne
Prevention of Mental Health Difficulties for Children Aged 0–3 Years: A Review
title Prevention of Mental Health Difficulties for Children Aged 0–3 Years: A Review
title_full Prevention of Mental Health Difficulties for Children Aged 0–3 Years: A Review
title_fullStr Prevention of Mental Health Difficulties for Children Aged 0–3 Years: A Review
title_full_unstemmed Prevention of Mental Health Difficulties for Children Aged 0–3 Years: A Review
title_short Prevention of Mental Health Difficulties for Children Aged 0–3 Years: A Review
title_sort prevention of mental health difficulties for children aged 0–3 years: a review
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8579481/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34777074
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.500361
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