Basic trust: an attachment-oriented intervention based on mind-mindedness in adoptive families

Objectives: We evaluated a new attachment-oriented intervention aimed at improving parental mind-mindedness, promoting positive parent-child relationships, and reducing child psychopathology in families with adopted children.

Method: The sample consisted of 20 families with adopted children (2-5 years of age). After the pretest, the intervention was conducted, followed by a posttest, 6 months later.

Results: Positive medium-to-large changes between pretest and posttest were found in children’s insecure attachments to their mothers, disorganized attachments to both their parents and conduct problems. Finally, mothers who had spent more time with their adopted children perceived less peer problems in their children after the intervention.

Conclusion: Basic Trust is a promising intervention for improving parent-child relationships in adoptive families and decreasing attachment and conduct problems.