Anne-Marie Maxwell

Background: Many parents today use digital or mobile health (mHealth) resources for parenting information and support. Thus, interventions or programs to support parenting delivered in this way are a rapidly growing area of innovation and research. Evidence indicates that face-to-face interventions that provide education and support for parents about infant sleep can have positive impacts on both infant sleep and maternal mood. However, there is limited research on the delivery of such interventions via digital or mHealth platforms. SleepWellBaby is an infant sleep mobile app for parents with infants and young children. The app provides parents with a 7-day program that may be repeated according to individual user demand, with information and interactive features aimed at supporting parents to understand infant sleep, and providing advice about strategies to support sleep in a responsive way. Objective: The study objectives were (1) to determine engagement with, and acceptability of, an mHealth-delivered parenting program to support infant sleep and (2) to investigate the impact of the program on parental fatigue, emotional health, and parenting competence, confidence, and self-efficacy. Methods: A multimethod quasi-experimental pre-post study design was used. Participants were parents of infants aged under 6 months, recruited through online advertising. Participants completed baseline questionnaires, then 2 further follow-up questionnaires at 7 days and 30 days post baseline. These questionnaires captured participant demographics (baseline) and perceptions of the program (follow-up), in addition to measuring parental fatigue (Fatigue Severity Scale), parent sense of competence, confidence, and self-efficacy (Me as a Parent Scale), and symptoms of anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale) and depression (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale) at all time points. Open-ended text responses were also collected at the 2 follow-up surveys. Questionnaire data were linked with participants’ engagement with the program (Engagement Index), measured using app analytics. Results: Participants’ (baseline: n=700; 7-d follow-up: n=339; and 30-d follow-up: n=220) engagement with the program varied; however, the majority reported cessation of app use by 1 month. Most participants were broadly satisfied with the program, finding the app easy to use and understand, and reported they could trust the information on the app. Those participants who had higher engagement or found the program most helpful for their sleep and their infant’s sleep showed the greatest improvement in their fatigue. Qualitative feedback from participants noted that while many found the app a lifeline with helpful information and features, others noted unintended negative impacts, such as spending too much time on their phone. Conclusions: Delivery of an infant sleep program via mHealth is effective for and acceptable to many parents. While not preferred by all parents, mHealth is an accessible, low-cost, and high-reach mode of providing information and management strategies for parents experiencing early parenting difficulties.

The transition to motherhood is a period of psychological vulnerability but also offers important opportunities to refine and strengthen resilience capacities that support long‐term mental health. The Systematic Self‐Reflection Model of Resilience Strengthening proposes dynamic, reciprocal relationships between self‐reflection, coping insight, and capacities for resilience, but this model has not been tested during the transition to motherhood. We aimed to clarify: (i) how self‐reflection and coping insight change across this life transition, and (ii) to examine the relationships among self‐reflection, coping insight, and depressive symptoms in first‐time mothers. It explored their bidirectional and indirect interactions, with a focus on how these processes contribute to resilience and mental health. First‐time pregnant women in Australia ( N = 147) completed longitudinal surveys across three time points (two prenatal, one postnatal). Multi‐level modeling assessed changes in self‐reflection, coping insight, and depressive symptoms over time, and tested mediating relationships at both within‐ and between‐person levels. Cross‐lagged panel models evaluated the directionality and reciprocity of these associations. Findings showed that coping insight consistently predicted lower depressive symptoms across multiple models. However, the pathway from self‐reflection to insight was less stable, suggesting that reflection alone may not reliably foster adaptive insight. Conversely, depressive symptoms more consistently influenced later self‐reflection indirectly via reduced insight, indicating that depression may undermine cognitive processes that support resilience. These findings provide novel evidence of how self‐reflection, coping insight, and depression interact during the transition to motherhood, highlighting the importance of targeting coping insight in perinatal interventions to strengthen resilience and protect maternal mental health.

Background: Early relational health is critical for childhood development, and disruptions in infant-caregiver trust can heighten risk. MERTIL for Parents is a brief, universal, online program designed to build parental understanding of relational trust and its role in infant development. This pilot study is the first evaluation of the program. Objectives: To evaluate the acceptability and short-term outcomes of MERTIL for Parents. Methods: Seventy-three parents (n = 69 mothers) of children aged 0–5 years, referred by practitioners, completed the program and online questionnaires at baseline (N = 73), post-intervention (n = 50), and three-month follow-up (n = 25). Results: The program demonstrated high acceptability: 98% of parents who engaged with the program found the content useful, 92% felt the length was appropriate, and all would recommend it to others. Program completion and satisfaction did not vary by sociodemographic or psychosocial characteristics. At three-month follow-up, parents reported significant improvements in their enjoyment of the parent–child relationship (p < 0.001), attunement to their child (p < 0.001), parenting confidence/competence (p = 0.004 and p = 0.003), help-seeking amenability (p < 0.001), and a reduction in irritability toward the child (p < 0.001), with medium to large effect sizes. No significant changes were observed for items assessing reflective functioning or perceived rejection. Conclusions: MERTIL for Parents shows strong acceptability and promising preliminary outcomes as a scalable, attachment and trauma-informed intervention supporting early relational health. Future research should examine long-term impacts and evaluate broader implementation across diverse families and service contexts.

Circle of Security Parenting (COS‐P) is an attachment‐theory‐informed program for parents of infants and young children. Designed for scalability, COS‐P has been widely adopted internationally. Evidence for the program's effectiveness is limited, however, restricting capacity to make informed decisions about program allocation, and threatening ongoing program funding. To help address this evidence gap, this qualitative study explored the experiences and perceptions of 20 COS‐P facilitators and 14 parent recipients in Australia, where COS‐P uptake has been particularly widespread. Thematic analysis of combined interview and focus group data revealed a perception that COS‐P primarily changes the lens through which parents view (a) their child, (b) themselves in the parenting role, and (c) the parent–child relationship, and that this was a pathway to increased empathy, compassion, and parenting confidence. Participants identified four components that underpinned program impact: key content, skills practice, group processes, and facilitator support. Although COS‐P was considered suitable for broad application, limitations were noted. Findings can guide clinical application of COS‐P and inform empirical research.

How do we educate for peace in a context of pervasive social violence? This paper explores this question as it presents the development and evaluation of a South African peace education programme at pre-school level. The programme comprised a pre-school curriculum and a teacher development course and was developed in conjunction with a team of pre-school teachers from diverse backgrounds working in a variety of settings within two South African provinces. The results of the evaluation provided strong evidence that the peace education programme resulted in a drop in aggressive behaviour among the children of the target population. The results also indicated that the teacher development course was well received by the teachers and facilitated their growth in a number of areas. Thus, the study indicated that peace education can have considerable positive impact in a country that is recovering from years of political and social violence.