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Impact of a mother—infant intervention in an indigent peri-urban South African context

Pilot study

Department of Psychology, University of Reading, UK

MIREILLE LANDMAN, MA

Parent Centre, Rosebank, Cape Town, South Africa

MARK TOMLINSON, MA

Department of Psychology, University of Cape Town, South Africa

CHRISTOPHER MOLTENO, MD

Department of Psychiatry, Groote Schuur Hospital, University of Cape Town, South Africa

LESLIE SWARTZ, PhD

Department of Psychology, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa

LYNNE MURRAY, PhD

Department of Psychology, University of Reading, UK

Correspondence: Professor Peter Cooper, Winnicott Research Unit, Department of Psychology, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 6AL, UK. E-mail: p.j.cooper{at}reading.ac.uk

Declaration of interest The study was supported by the World Health Organization and the Wellcome Trust.

¹ Data on breast-feeding missing for two of the comparison group.

Background A high rate of maternal depression and associated disturbance in the mother—infant relationship has been found in an indigent peri-urban South African community, Khayelitsha. The question arises whether a community-based intervention could be beneficial.

Aims To train community workers to deliver an intervention to mothers and infants in Khayelitsha, and to compare mothers and infants receiving this intervention with a sample receiving no such intervention.

Method Four Khayelitsha women were trained in a mother—infant intervention, which they delivered to 32 women recruited in late pregnancy. At 6 months post-partum, maternal mood, the mother—infant relationship and infant growth were assessed. The findings were compared with a matched group of 32 mothers and infants.

Results There was no reliable impact of the intervention on maternal mood. However, compared with the comparison sample, the quality of mother—infant engagement was significantly more positive for those who had received the intervention.

Conclusions The pilot study produced preliminary evidence of a benefit of a community-based mother—infant intervention delivered by trained, but otherwise unqualified, community workers, sufficient to warrant a formal controlled evaluation of this treatment.

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