Innovations in attachment-based interventions in pandemic times: feasibility of online attachment-based interventions.

Abstract

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic Howard Steele decided to organize a miniconference of the Society for Emotion regulation and Attachment Studies (SEAS) on the highly urgent but equally highly challenging topic: “Innovations in attachment-based interventions for pandemic times.” On the 2nd and 3rd of December 2021 this conference took place, of course online, and it attracted more than 250 participants. In this special section we present four papers emerging from this conference, covering online family support across the age range from infancy to adolescence. Various labels are used for online parenting support interventions (virtual, digital, online, hybrid, eHealth type, etc.), but they all share a common goal, that is, reaching families in need of support at distant places or during extraordinarily stressful times that make face-to-face coaching less feasible or even impossible. The COVID-19 pandemic seems to have affected both the physical and mental health of parents and children. The “Stress in America” pandemic survey found large weight gains in the population, with parents being among those who gained the most weight during lockdowns. Many parents reported increased stress and sleeping problems and some turned to drinking more alcohol. The pandemic has also impacted children’s school achievements. Severe learning losses were observed, with those from lower socioeconomic families suffering most. Interactions between parents and children were less smooth during the pandemic. Numbers of online searches for terms related to abuse increased steeply during the pandemic, suggesting more frequent child maltreatment (Riem et al., 2021). Unfortunately, the growing need for support and treatment of mental health issues in parents and children during pandemic lockdowns was met with less instead of more family support. Home visits or group sessions became impossible as in-person interactions with families or groups were disrupted by the pandemic. With lockdowns making in-