A smartphone app effectively facilitates mothers' mind-mindedness: A randomized controlled trial

Fionnuala Larkin; Janine Oostenbroek; Yujin Lee; Emily Hayward; Amy Fernandez; Ying Wang; Alex Mitchell; Lydia Y Li; Elizabeth Meins

doi:10.1111/cdev.14039

A smartphone app effectively facilitates mothers' mind-mindedness: A randomized controlled trial

Fionnuala Larkin, Janine Oostenbroek, Yujin Lee, Emily Hayward, Amy Fernandez, Ying Wang, Alex Mitchell, Lydia Y Li, Elizabeth Meins

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The efficacy of a smartphone app intervention (BabyMind©) in facilitating mind-mindedness was investigated in a randomized controlled trial, assigning mothers and their 6-month-olds (N = 152; 72 girls, 146 White) to intervention or active control conditions. Mothers who had received the BabyMind© app intervention scored higher for appropriate (d = .61, 95% CI .28, .94) and lower for non-attuned (d = -.55, 95% CI -.92, -.18) mind-related comments at follow-up (age 12 months), compared with their control group counterparts. Adjusting for missing data did not alter this pattern of findings. Mothers' baseline parental reflective functioning did not moderate these relations. Results are discussed in terms of the benefits of early intervention and exploring the efficacy of the app in more diverse populations.

Original language	English
Number of pages	14
Journal	Child Development
Early online date	15 Nov 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.14039
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 15 Nov 2023

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10.1111/cdev.14039Licence: CC BY

Child Development - 2023 - Larkin - A smartphone app effectively facilitates mothers mind‐mindedness A randomized
© 2023 The Authors
Final published version, 1.25 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "A smartphone app effectively facilitates mothers' mind-mindedness: A randomized controlled trial",

abstract = "The efficacy of a smartphone app intervention (BabyMind{\textcopyright}) in facilitating mind-mindedness was investigated in a randomized controlled trial, assigning mothers and their 6-month-olds (N = 152; 72 girls, 146 White) to intervention or active control conditions. Mothers who had received the BabyMind{\textcopyright} app intervention scored higher for appropriate (d = .61, 95% CI .28, .94) and lower for non-attuned (d = -.55, 95% CI -.92, -.18) mind-related comments at follow-up (age 12 months), compared with their control group counterparts. Adjusting for missing data did not alter this pattern of findings. Mothers' baseline parental reflective functioning did not moderate these relations. Results are discussed in terms of the benefits of early intervention and exploring the efficacy of the app in more diverse populations.",

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AU - Larkin, Fionnuala

AU - Oostenbroek, Janine

AU - Lee, Yujin

AU - Hayward, Emily

AU - Fernandez, Amy

AU - Wang, Ying

AU - Mitchell, Alex

AU - Li, Lydia Y

AU - Meins, Elizabeth

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