Interventions

Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline (VIPP-SD)

Intervention studies, changing the environment for the better, have their natural place in my line of research. With Femmie Juffer and Marinus van IJzendoorn, I developed and validated (through randomized control trials) a parent intervention program using video-feedback, the Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline (VIPP-SD). In an imaginative and unorthodox way the program crosses borders of two theoretical schools of thought and combines ideas from attachment theory and social learning theory. In a meta-analysis we showed that interaction-focused, brief interventions are more effective in enhancing sensitive parenting than broad-band interventions. Another important finding was that interventions with stronger effects on parental sensitivity were also more effective in enhancing child attachment security, thus providing the first definite evidence for a causal role of parental sensitivity in shaping child attachment. The VIPP-SD program has been successfully implemented in randomized control trials by independent teams in a variety of clinical and at-risk populations across several countries (USA, UK, Canada, Lithuania, Italy, Portugal), with specific adaptations for use in immigrant families, families with a child with Autistic Spectrum Disorder, and children in day care settings. A recent meta-analysis showed that across all RCTs (overall N = 1,116) the intervention program makes half a standard deviation difference between the quality of experimental and control parents’ interactive behavior to the child, and reduces child insecure attachment and problem behavior.

Central book and papers:

  • Juffer, F., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M.J., & Van IJzendoorn, M.H. (2017). Pairing attachment theory and social learning theory in video-feedback intervention to promote positive parenting. Current Opinion in Psychology, 15, 189-194. DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.03.012
  • Kok, R., Thijssen, S., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M.J., Jaddoe, V.W.V., Verhulst, F.C., White, T., Van IJzendoorn, M.H., & Tiemeier, H. (2015). Normal variation in early parental sensitivity predicts child structural brain development. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 54, 824-831. DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2015.07.009
  • Juffer, F., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M.J. & Van IJzendoorn, M.H. (2008). Promoting positive parenting: An attachment-based intervention. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
  • Bakermans-Kranenburg, M.J., Van IJzendoorn, M.H., & Juffer, F. (2003). Less is more: Meta-analyses of sensitivity and attachment interventions in early childhood. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 195-215. DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.129.2.195