title: INTERFACING INFANT MENTAL HEALTH KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS: REFLECTIONS ON THE NARRATIVES OF LAY HOME VISITORS' EXPERIENCES OF LEARNING AND APPLYING RELATIONAL CONCEPTS OF DEVELOPMENT IN A SOUTH AFRICAN INTERVENTION PROGRAM.
abstract: The question of interfacing research and clinically generated knowledge in the field of infant mental health (IMH) with local cultural knowledge and belief systems has provoked extended discussion in recent years. This article explores convergences and divergences between current research-based, relational IMH mental health models and "community" knowledge held by a group of South African lay home visitors from a socioeconomically deprived township. These women were trained in a psychoanalytic and attachment-informed infant mental health program that promotes a relational model of infant development. They provide an intervention that supports high risk mother-infant relationships in the same locality. A two-tiered approach was taken to the analysis of the home visitor interviews and focused on the home visitors' constructed narratives of infant development posttraining as well as the personal impact of the training and work on the home visitors themselves. The study found that psychoanalytic and attachment-informed thinking about development makes sense to those operating within the local South African cultural context, but that the accommodation of this knowledge is a complex and challenging process.
authors.affiliation: Anna Freud Centre, London and University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
authors.forename: Tessa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Baradon
authors.affiliation: University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bain
mesh_terms: D003469:Culture; D004517:Education, Professional; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006282:Health Personnel; D006699:Home Care Services; D006792:House Calls; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007858:Learning; D001523:Mental Disorders; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology; D016487:Parenting; D002666:Psychology, Child; D013019:South Africa
keywords: African high-risk setting; Infant mental health knowledge systems; Kenntnisse zur psychischen Gesundheit von Säuglingen; Mutter-Kind-Betreuer im Rahmen von Hausbesuchen; afrikanisches Hochrisikosetting; contexte de haut risque en Afrique; escenarios africanos de alto riesgo; mother-baby home visitors; sistemas de conocimiento de salud mental infantil; systèmes de connaissance de la santé mentale du nourrisson; visitantes a casa para la mamá y el bebé; visiteuses à domicile mère-bébé; アフリカの高リスク状況; 乳幼児精神保健知識システム; 家庭訪問員; 幼兒心理健康知識體系; 母嬰家訪者; 母親-赤ちゃん; 非洲高風險環境