Mothers' experiences of the Ububele Mother-Baby Home Visiting Project
Date
2015-09-04
Authors
Pininski, Darren
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Abstract
The quality of the mother-infant relationship, and its effects on the development of the child has been covered extensively in the literature. Infants who experience sensitive and reliable care from their caregivers are more likely to develop secure attachment styles, which positively influences their ability to develop long and meaningful relationships in the future, as well as function healthily in their environments. Developed countries have been successful in creating interventions to improve mother-infant relationships and infant attachment, and there is a need for developing countries, such as South Africa, to adopt and tailor these interventions to suit their unique cultural needs. A project that has been piloted in Alexandra township in Johannesburg, the Ububele Mother-Baby Home Visiting Project, is one such intervention. It was considered important by the Ububele team to try and gain a better understanding of how the project was experienced and perceived by mothers who participated in it. This current research aims to do so by exploring the mothers’ experiences of the project, under three overarching themes: (1) the mothers’ experiences and perceptions of the project; (2) mothers’ experiences and perceptions of the home visitors and (3) the mothers’ experiences of the home visits. It was hoped that by exploring these experiences of the mothers, key areas that may have contributed to both the successes and failures of the project could be identified and considered for future projects. The form of the data consisted of eight semi-structured interviews of mothers who had completed the project, which were then interpreted and analysed to identify prominent themes. The results indicated that the project was generally well received by the mothers, who perceived it as a beneficial support system. Suggestions regarding some of the possible factors to consider when carrying the project forward or implementing a similar project in the future are provided.
Description
Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in
Clinical Psychology in the Department of Psychology, University of the Witwatersrand