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Incorporating Q Set into Parent-Child Relationships
Core Function: Research and Evaluation
This study, conducted by CIMHD Director Susan Spieker and doctoral student and graduate of the CIMHD Certificate Program in Infant Mental Health, Marie-Celeste Condon, is funded as a university-Early Head Start partnership. In this study, the focus is on the rationale, process, and outcomes of a project in which our researchers selected a measurement tool developed and used in research to assess the quality parentchild attachment relationships. The researchers collaborated with two Early Head Start (EHS) programs over a period of three years to evaluate the tool’s usefulness in home-based service delivery. The tool is the Toddler Attachment Sort-45 Items (TAS-45), an adaptation of the widely used Attachment Q-Sort (AQS). It is a measure of the quality of attachment relationships between primary caregivers and their children, from age one through the preschool years. The project is based on a parallel process theory of change, which predicts that service providers engaged in reflective, relationship-focused service delivery in a supportive work environment are more able to support sensitive responsiveness and reflective capacity in parents. The aim is for the TAS-45 to be used to assess outcomes and inform service delivery through ongoing cycles of assessment, reflection, planning, and support for the kinds parent-child interactions that are critical to toddlers’ attachment-exploration security.
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