Abstract
The purpose of the study was to analyze the efficacy of early home‐visiting intervention in enhancing the quality of mother–infant interaction in psychosocial risk and depressive risk mother–infant dyads. Thirty depressive risk, 28 psychosocial risk, and 33 low‐depressed and low‐risk mothers were randomly distributed between the Home Visiting Program and control groups. Attachment (Adult Attachment Interview; Main & Goldwyn, 1997) and maternal representations during pregnancy (Interview of Maternal Representations During Pregnancy; Ammaniti, Candelori, Pola, & Tambelli, 1999) and after the birth of the infant (Interview of Maternal Representations After the Birth; Ammaniti et al., 1999) were evaluated as well as depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiological Studies‐Depression Scale; Radloff, 1977) during the first year. Ratings of sensitivity, interference, affective state of the mother, cooperation, and infant self‐regulation during mother–infant interactions were assessed at 3, 6, and 12 months. Results showed the efficacy of the home‐visiting program in improving sensitive maternal behaviors toward the child after 6 months of intervention.