This document was printed from the website of the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare (CEBC), which you can access at http://www.cebc4cw.org/
This document was printed from the website of the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare (CEBC), which you can access at http://www.cebc4cw.org/
Type of Maltreatment: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Physical neglect
Target Population: High-risk populations such as child enrolled in Early Head Start or Head Start programs, incarcerated women, or irritable babies.
Brief Description:(The information in this program outline is provided by the program representative and edited by the CEBC staff.)
Circle of Security (COS) has been reviewed by the CEBC in the areas of Infant and Toddler Mental Health (0-3) and Parent Training, but lacks the necessary research evidence to be given either a Scientific Rating or a Child Welfare Relevance Rating. The COS protocol is an early intervention program designed to prevent insecure attachment and child mental disorders. The COS protocol differs from previous intervention approaches in several important ways.
The COS approach provides caregivers with the skills to understand their children’s behavior, and the skills to understand and regulate their own cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses to their children.
Circle of Security (COS) was designed to be conducted in a group.
Circle of Security (COS) has been tested for use in a group setting.
Testing references:
Hoffman, K., Marvin, R., Cooper, G. & Powell, B. (2006). Changing toddlers’ and preschoolers’ attachment classifications: The Circle of Security intervention. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 74(6), 1017-1026.
Cassidy, J., Ziv, Y., Stupica, B., Sherman, L., Butler, H., Karfgin, A., et al. (in press). Enhancing attachment security in the infants of women in a jail-diversion program. Attachment and Human Development.
The recommended group size is: 6
Recommended intensity: 1.25 hours per week with an initial 2 hour assessment
Recommended duration: 20 weeks
Circle of Security (COS) includes a homework component.
Description: Each group starts with asking parents to offer stories of how they saw and used the material from the prior week.
Circle of Security (COS) is typically conducted in a(n): Birth Family Home, Community Agency, Outpatient Clinic, Prison, and Residential Care Facility.
Circle of Security (COS) was designed with a Parent Component.
Circle of Security (COS) addresses the following presenting problems and symptoms: Insensitive, unresponsive caregiving or frightening parental behavior
Circle of Security (COS) was designed with a Child Component.
Circle of Security (COS) addresses the following presenting problems and symptoms: Low income, incarcerated parents, higher risk of being in a potentially abusive or neglectful home
Age range(s): 0-5
Circle of Security (COS) was developed for children with developmental delays.
Circle of Security (COS) has not been tested for children with developmental delays.
Circle of Security (COS) does not have materials available in a language other than English.
There is a manual that describes how to implement this program.
There is training available for Circle of Security (COS).
Training contact: Information is available on www.Circleofsecurity.net.
Number of days/hours: 8 hours a day for 10 days
Training is obtained: Training is held in Spokane every June but training can also be negotiated for on-site.
There currently are not additional qualified resources for training.
The typical resources for implementing Circle of Security (COS) are: Room big enough for 6 parents and a group leader. Need a way to present video to parents for discussion (television, computer, etc.)
The Group Leader needs to be a licensed mental health professional, needs to have completed the 10-day training and passed the written exam, and needs to have conducted two intervention groups under supervision.
Circle of Security has been reviewed and it was determined that this program lacks the type of published, peer-reviewed research that meets the CEBC criteria for scientific rating of 1 – 5. Therefore, the program has been given the classification of "NR - Not able to be Rated. " It was reviewed because it was identified by the topic expert as a program being used in the field, or it is being marketed and/or used in California with children receiving services from child welfare or related systems and their parents/caregivers. Some programs that are not rated may have published, peer-reviewed research that does not meet the above stated criteria or may have eligible studies that have not yet been published in the peer-reviewed literature. For more information on the "NR – Not able to be Rated" classification, please see the Scientific Rating Scale.
Hoffman, K. T., Marvin, R. S., Cooper, G., & Powell, B. (2006). Changing toddlers’ and preschoolers’ attachment classifications: The Circle of Security intervention. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 74(6), 1017-1026.
Type of Study: Pretest/Posttest
Number of participants: 65 children and their caregivers
Population:
Location/Institution: Washington State
Summary: (To include comparison groups, outcomes, measures, notable limitations) Prior to beginning the intervention, the caregiver/child pairs were assessed in a 90-minute laboratory session using the Strange Situation protocol to determine the child’s attachment security. The intervention was conducted starting 6 to 8 weeks later and continuing for 20 weekly sessions. After the intervention was completed, the child’s attachment security was tested again in the laboratory using a second experience with the Strange Situation protocol. During the laboratory sessions, caregiver behavior was also assessed using the Caregiver Behavior System, which is an observational protocol looking at caregiver interaction patterns. In order to help develop individualized treatment plans, caregivers also participated in a videotaped interview which focused on his or her developmental history, perceptions of his or her relationship with the child, and his or her own relationship to his or her parents. After the intervention, a statistically significant proportion of children had shifted from disorganized to organized attachment classification than had shifted in the other direction. A higher proportion of children also showed an increase in security of attachment as compared with those showing a decrease. Limitations include lack of a comparison group and long-term follow-up. Participants were also selected based on their willingness to participate and may not represent the target population as a whole.
Length of post-intervention follow-up: None.
Cassidy, J., Ziv, Y., Stupica, B., Sherman, L.J., Butler, H., Karfgin, A., et al. (in press). Enhancing attachment security in the infants of women in a jail-diversion program. To appear in J. Cassidy, J. Poehlmann, & P.R. Shaver (Eds.), An Attachment Perspective on Incarcerated Parents and Their Children. Special issue of Attachment and Human Development.
Type of Study: Non-matched comparison groups
Number of participants: 20 infant/mother pairs
Population:
Location/Institution: Baltimore, MD
Summary: (To include comparison groups, outcomes, measures, notable limitations) Participants were mother-infant pairs who completed a 15-month intervention program, the Circle of Security Perinatal Protocol (COS-PP). During the intervention, women and their children spent 6 months in a residential facility and 6 months in a community-living phase. At 12 months, women and their children participated in the Strange Situation attachment assessment. They were also observed and coded on maternal responsiveness during a free-play session. In addition, mothers completed the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale (ECR), the Warmth/Acceptance and Hostility/Rejection Subscales of the Parental Acceptance/Rejection Questionnaire (PARQ), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), the Social Support Questionnaire (SSQ), and the Traumatic Antecedents Questionnaire, which assesses lifetime traumatic experiences. Results showed that women receiving the COS-PP had rates of secure and disorganized attachment and also maternal sensitivity comparable to those typically found in low-risk samples of women and also showed improved maternal depression scores. Study limitations include a lack of matched comparison groups and lack of long-term post-intervention follow-up.
Length of post-intervention follow-up: None.
Cooper, G., Hoffman, K., Powell, B., & Marvin, R. (2005). The Circle of Security Intervention. In L. J. Berlin, Y. Ziv, L. M. Amaya-Jackson, & M. T. Greenberg, Enhancing Early Attachments: Theory, Research, Intervention, and Policy. New York: Guilford Press.
Powell, B., Cooper, G., Hoffman, K. & Marvin, R. (2009).The Circle of Security. In Zeanah, C., Handbook of Infant Mental Health (Third Edition), Guilford Press.
Powell, B., Cooper, G., Hoffman, K. & Marvin, R. (2007). The Circle of Security: A Case Study. In Oppenheim, D. & Goldsmith, D. (eds.) The Added Value of Attachment Theory for Clinical Work: Bridging the Gap Between Research and Practice. Guilford Press.
Contact name: Bert Powell
Affiliation/Agency: Circle of Security
Email: b-spowell@mindspirng.com
Phone: 509-455-7654 ext 27
Fax: 509-455-4112
Website: http://www.circleofsecurity.net