Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline (VIPP-SD)

VIPP-SD is a brief evidence-based intervention, supporting the relationship between a caregiver and their infant. The programme is based on attachment and social learning theories, promoting caregiver sensitivity. VIPP-SD has a strong evidence-base, with research consistently showing it is effective in helping parents and children’s development and wellbeing. It supports relationships between parents and carers and their children, helping the development of secure attachments by increasing parents’ and carers’ sensitive responding and improving their attunement to the child.

The intervention involves 7 fortnightly home visits, in which the practitioner films the parent and their child doing everyday activities together such as playing together or singing songs. The practitioner watches the video clips back between visits and prepares messages to feedback to the parent at the following visit. Practitioners focus on positive moments between the parent and child, helping caregivers to see the world through the eyes of their child and guiding them to understand their child’s communications and emotions. Using positive reinforcement of what the parent is already doing well, the intervention aims to build on the parent’s strengths, helping them to respond to their child’s behaviour and signals. The programme also provides guidance regarding sensitive parenting behaviour and regulating their child’s challenging behaviours. This training is being provided to support perinatal mental health teams in delivery of parent-infant interventions and will include specialised content related to the delivery of the intervention within a perinatal mental health context.

• Train perinatal mental health professionals to deliver VIPP with families they work with.
• Understand the theoretical basis and principles of VIPP-SD and its relation to attachment theory.
• Train professionals how to write video-feedback to promote parental sensitivity.
• Have had experience of implementing the intervention with peer support.
• Practice delivery of the intervention with an initial training family and receive supervision.
• Have a clear idea of how to further develop their VIPP-SD skills.

This cohort of training will be delivered across 5 days from 9.30-4.30 on the following dates:

• Day 1 – Thurs 16^th Jan 2025
• Day 2 – Monday 20^th Jan
• Day 3 – Thurs 23^rd Jan
• Day 4 – Mon 27^th Jan
• Day 5 – Thurs 30^th Jan

There will be an introductory session held on 4^th December 2024 at 11am-12pm.

NHSE is funding the training of the perinatal mental health workforce to deliver evidence-based interventions, as part of its commitment to the NHS Long term plan (2019), the NHS Mental Health Implementation Plan (2019) and Implementation Guidance for Psychological Therapies for Perinatal Mental Health (2023). This training supports their delivery in the following ways:

• Improving access to evidence-based psychological therapies for women and their partners

VIPP has a strong evidence-base demonstrating effectiveness across a range of settings. VIPP has been shown to improve parental sensitivity, parenting confidence and skills, and child outcomes. Delivering VIPP-SD training to practitioners working in specialist PMH aims to increase access for women and families during a crucial period for development of the parent-infant relationship. In the last two visits of the programme, a second caregiver can be invited to join, thereby offering an opportunity for partners to also gain a deeper understanding of their child’s signals and behaviours.

• Increasing the availability of specialist PMH community care for women who need ongoing support from 12 months after birth to 24 months

VIPP-SD is specifically developed for parents of children from 12 months upwards (although it can be delivered when children are younger). This training will provide practitioners with the skills to work with parents of 1-2 years, helping them to observe, interpret and respond to their child’s cues, communications and behaviours.

Any practitioners who work in perinatal mental health teams in England are eligible to apply. No prior experience or qualifications are required but an interest in parent-child interactions and attachment theory is welcome.

To apply, please complete these two forms by 5pm Thursday 31st October:

1. Submit an application form.
2. Email a copy of this training commitment form, signed by you and your line manager, to ecs49@cam.ac.uk.

Trainees will need to commit to:

• 5 day course
• 60 hours outside of 5 day course – detailed in table below:

The training agreement form can be found in the “How to Apply” section. Please ensure you have read and understood the hours involved and ensure your line managers are aware and that they have agreed to protect your time to fulfil the training requirements.

IMPORTANT: Please note, the training agreement form must be read, signed and sent to ecs49@cam.ac.uk by 5pm Thursday 31st October along with submitting the application form (further details can be found in the ‘How to apply’ section).

In preparation for this training, participants will be required to watch three videos and read sections of the manual.  These will be provided if you are successful in gaining a place on the training.

Training family

Following the 5-day online course, participants are required to work with a “training family” under supervision. Between February-July 2025, participants will deliver the intervention in full to their training families and receive 6 online supervision meetings.

Participants will need to identify a training family before the course so they can start with them in early February 2025. This will need to be a parent with a child between 10 mths-6 yrs. This could be a clinical case or an acquaintance e.g. a friend of a friend. Preferably, the family should not have a high level of need or complexity, because trainees are still learning, and need to get used to the techniques.

Trainees will visit the training family during 7 home visits. During home visit 1, trainees will get acquainted with the parent and child and make recordings; this should take no more than 1 hour. The following home visits (2-6) will be intervention sessions in which trainees will make new recordings and provide feedback on previous videos (these will take approximately 1.5-2 hours each). In home visit 7, trainees show the parent the final recordings and this takes approximately 1 hour. The home visits may be scheduled about 2-3 weeks apart. The completion of the supervision trajectory with the training family thus takes approximately 3 to 4 months.

Please note that the supervision trajectory with the practice family should start within 6 months after the VIPP-SD basic course. The individual accreditation meetings will be planned after home visit 7.

Equipment

Trainees will need a digital video camera to film the clips and a laptop or tablet to show the clips back on. They will need toys to bring to the family during the home visits. The types of toys will be discussed during the training course.

The participants are expected to attend all sessions of the training course. After completion of the VIPP-SD Training Course AND the supervision phase with the training family, participants shown to have proficient knowledge and understanding of the method, will be certified and ready to practice.

Certified VIPP-SD interveners will be registered by VIPP-SD International. Please note, as part of the training and accreditation process, data will be shared with VIPP-SD International.

This course will be delivered remotely using Zoom. You will need a desktop PC or laptop with a microphone and camera together with a suitably fast internet connection. Mobile devices and tablets cannot be used, because they disable certain features used in training. Because of security reasons, you will have to use a Zoom account. Access to the online meetings is restricted to logged-in users only. Also, you will not be able to join from your browser, but only from the Zoom Desktop Client.

Please note: Some devices provided by employers may have restrictions in place.

Please use this test link to check your set up. After clicking on ‘Join’, you will either get a pop-up message asking you to ‘open the Zoom app’ from your computer (if you already have the Desktop Client), OR you will be able to click on ‘Download now’, underneath the ‘Launch meeting’ button. For more information about using Zoom, please visit the Zoom website.

An online platform, will be used to deliver any self-guided learning and will provide access to all training handouts, materials and homework.