Attachment-informed interventions for adults who support children and young people: A meta-synthesis and a feasibility and acceptability study.

Lawson, Heather 2025. Attachment-informed interventions for adults who support children and young people: A meta-synthesis and a feasibility and acceptability study. ClinPsy Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

Paper one is a systematic review of existing research in the UK and Ireland that explores how staff working with children and young people across health, social and educational settings experience attachment-informed training interventions. Attachment-informed interventions can offer staff knowledge and confidence in attachment-informed practice, which then can improve outcomes for children who have experienced disrupted attachment relationships and trauma. The review identified nine relevant studies, which explored staff experience of attachment-informed training interventions and the implementation of attachment-informed practice. Thematic synthesis of the data led to four overarching analytical themes. The first theme, “Changing for the better”, described how the attachment-informed training interventions enabled staff to engage in changes that were perceived as being beneficial for their practice and, therefore, for the children they work with. The second theme, “Shifting perspective” emphasised how the attachment-informed training intervention led to staff doing things differently, noticing changes in themselves and seeing the child differently. The third theme, “Maintaining the change”, highlighted factors that either supported or hindered the ongoing implementation of these changes, which included access or a lack of access to continued training and a space to reflect. And finally, the fourth theme, “A whole systems approach”, highlighted the need for the entire system’s involvement when bringing attachment-informed training interventions into a service. While there are limitations of the review related to methodological issues of the research and lack of transparency regarding the components of the training interventions, this paper offers important clinical insights into the mechanisms of change experienced by staff following attachment-informed training interventions. It also has practical implications for shaping guidance on how such interventions are implemented, highlighting both their potential impact and the key conditions required to support successful and sustained implementation. Paper two presents an empirical study evaluating the feasibility and acceptability of a group-delivered, attachment and DDP-informed intervention for both co-professionals (e.g. foster carers and kinship carers) and professionals (e.g. social workers, teachers etc.) working with looked-after children. The study also sought to evaluate the feasibility of the research design as the first stage of a larger project that aims to look at the short- and longer-term efficacy of the group-delivered intervention. Using a non-randomised waitlist control design, the study explored the feasibility of the intervention through routine service data (referrals, attendance and drop-out rates). The feasibility of the research was evaluated through consent and measure completion rates across the study. The acceptability of the intervention and research was evaluated through participant responses to an evaluation questionnaire. Findings indicated that the intervention itself was generally well-received and feasible to deliver in practice, though work is needed to improve retention in the intervention. In contrast, the research design proved less feasible due to difficulties with recruitment, particularly for the control group, and the measure completion across the course of the study. Suggestions are made to modify the research design for ongoing research into the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention and preliminary testing of its effectiveness ahead of a larger-scale research trial. These papers add to the growing body of literature that provides evidence for the use of attachment-informed interventions with children and young people who have experienced trauma, particularly interventions that target the system around the young person. Equipping those supporting children and young people with attachment-informed knowledge and skills enhances the likelihood of children forming supportive, attuned relationships and developing the relational safety necessary to foster resilience and mitigate the long-term impacts of developmental trauma.

Item Type:	Thesis (DClinPsy)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Schools > Psychology
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	29 September 2025
Last Modified:	30 Sep 2025 09:14
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/181375

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