The AiD Project (ATTACHTM in Denmark)
The project tests and evaluates how the parent program ATTACHTM (Attachment and Child Health) can promote wellbeing and development for vulnerable children and their parents in Danish municipalities.
The AiD Project (ATTACHTM in Denmark) is a collaboration between the Centre of Excellence in Early Intervention and Family Studies (CIF), Dr. Martha Hart and Dr. Nicole Letourneau from University of Calgary in Canada, and family treatment units from three municipalities: Gribskov, Hvidovre, and Høje-Taastrup.
ATTACHTM is a program aimed at parents with children aged 0-5 who experience various stressors in their daily lives (such as mental health challenges, substance abuse, criminality, and poverty). The program was developed by Dr. Martha Hart and Dr. Nicole Letourneau from the University of Calgary, Canada. The purpose of ATTACHTM is to strengthen the parent-child relationship and promote children’s wellbeing and development. This is achieved by working specifically with parents' reflective functioning, i.e., their ability to consider thoughts, feelings, and intentions in both themselves and in their child, as this ability has been shown to be particularly important for enhancing parental skills and the parent-child relationship quality. ATTACHTM has been evaluated among groups of vulnerable families in Canada and has demonstrated positive effects on various aspects of parents’ and children’s wellbeing, as well as on the quality of the parent-child interaction.
This project is a feasibility pilot study with the following goals:
- To explore and evaluate the project's methods and procedures concerning feasibility and implementation within municipal practice.
- To investigate the impact of the ATTACHTM program on the wellbeing of parents and their children.
The aim is to use insights from the feasibility pilot project to develop a model that can serve as a foundation for future scaling of the project and its approach across additional municipalities.
The project will be conducted as a pilot project consisting of several phases:
Phase 1: June 2024 - December 2024
Adapting ATTACHTM to the Danish context, providing further training for the research team in the program, and conducting the first pilot with families to test the program and research procedures.
Phase 2: January 2025 - June 2025
Providing further training for municipal facilitators in ATTACHTM and conducting the second pilot with families referred for treatment in the municipal family treatment unit.
Phase 3: August 2025 - December 2026
A randomized controlled pilot trial (RCT), where the effectiveness of ATTACHTM will be compared with the treatment typically offered in municipal family treatment units.
Throughout all phases, we will examine how participation in both the project itself and the ATTACHTM program is experienced by parents, therapists, and managers. We will use questionnaires, video recordings, and interviews to gather insights and compare the effects of ATTACHTM with other interventions in the municipal setting.
ATTACHTM is aimed at parents of children aged 0-5 and focuses on improving the parent's reflective functioning. The program specifically works on training the ability to reflect on thoughts and feelings in oneself, the child, and others. An ATTACHTM program consists of 10 sessions, each approximately 1 hour long. The program is offered to one parent at a time, but for two of the sessions, a co-parent or another person who can support the parent in their parenting role (e.g., a grandparent, sibling, friend, or other professional) is invited to participate. Each session includes a review of a 3-minute video recording of free play between the parent and child. In addition to video review, each session also involves reflection on a hypothetical everyday scenario and a challenging situation from the parent’s own daily life.
For more information, visit the Canadian website.
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Johanne Smith-Nielsen |
| Johanne is the overall project manager and is responsible for project planning and execution. |
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Katrine Wendelboe |
| Katrine is the daily manager of AiD and is responsible for project planning, execution, data collection, and coordination with local treatment units and participating families. Additionally, Katrine will also be involved in training and supervising ATTACHTM facilitators. |
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Amanda Frees |
| Amanda is responsible for data collection with participating families and for the training and supervision of ATTACH facilitators. Additionally, Amanda will have a particular focus on evaluating the implementation of ATTACH in the municipalities. From February 2025 Amanda will work as a PhD student in the AiD Project, and her study will focus on evaluating the implementation of the ATTACHTM parent program. |
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Laura Støve
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| Laura will be responsible for tasks including data collection with participating families and data coding. |
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Dr. Nicole Letourneau |
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Dr. Martha Hart |
Other Members of the Project Team
- Mette Skovgaard Væver, Professor, Licensed Psychologist, Head of the Centre of Excellence in Early Intervention and Family Studies (CIF), University of Copenhagen
- Sophie Juul, Assistant Professor, Licensed Psychologist, Copenhagen Trial Unit and University of Copenhagen
- Signe Vangkilde, Professor, Psychologist, University of Copenhagen
- Dr. Sarah Merrill, Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts Lowell