This review focuses on a number of issues with regard to culture and decolonization within selected excerpts from the WAIMH Handbook of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health – Cultural Context, Prevention, Intervention, and Treatment, Volume 2 (Osofsky et al., 2024).
The global focus of this volume creates an interconnected, tapestry of approaches to IECMH, in which each cultural thread and each family’s story, contributes to the richness and strength of the whole. The reader is sensitized to the necessity of weaving a global fabric in terms of IEMCH care, thereby addressing concerns that theory and practice have been formed for too long using only the single thread of research sourced from Western countries (Puura, 2024, Chapter 1). While valuable, this Western-centric thread has failed to capture the diverse spectrum of human experience and relationships, as the majority of infants and children globally live in the non-Western world (Dawson et al., 2024, Chapter 4), where indigenous communities have their own deeply relational practices and intergenerational care systems, based on knowledge that has been passed on through storytelling, ceremony, and language (Keren, 2024, Chapter 10; Wesner et al., 2024, Chapter 15).
Jointly, these chapters are underpinned by a recognition that colonialism has torn indigenous families from their culture and culturally informed practices of caregiving, and replaced them with models of caregiving based on Western culture. For instance, in the Japanese context, rapid Westernization led to disruption of traditional child-rearing approaches (Watanabe, 2024, Chapter 5). Over time, Western approaches have come to be seen as culturally intrusive, leading to a movement to reinstate culturally congruent methods such as deep listening and interdependent, non-verbal affective communication (Watanabe, 2024, Chapter 5).
Similarly, in South Africa, traditional African patterns of caregiving, with their emphasis on physical closeness, prompt responsiveness, and extensive family and community involvement, form protective relational patterns within the community fabric (Dawson et al., 2024, Chapter 4) that have been undermined by the forced introduction of Western practices.
Difficult historical tears left by colonialism and apartheid, now need to be carefully addressed by examining their impact on indigenous caregiving practices, and the extent to which programmes and practices that have been imported from the West are congruent with practices based on local values and wisdom.
Similarly, assessment of the wellbeing of infants and their families requires careful reflection with regard to the extent to which any Western measures being used are based on assumptions about the parent-infant relationship that do not pertain in non-Western settings. Assessment tools and frameworks developed from a Western paradigm may lead to a ‘measurement disjuncture’, whereby the tools can be irrelevant, invalid, and unreliable when applied to non-Westen and Indigenous communities (Keren, 2024, Chapter 10; Wesner et al., 2024, Chapter 15). The handbook calls for the development of culturally grounded measurements and interventions that includes a continuum of approaches, either developed from scratch or by adapting existing measures to address the cultural and community-defined concepts and values (Wesner et al., 2024, Chapter 15).
The handbook highlights the need for a proactive approach to the identification of culturally incongruent approaches. Diversity-informed practice requires that we understand and critically reflect on our own cultural background, values, biases, assumptions, and the influence of oppressive systems, with critical self-reflection ultimately leading to new perspectives (Ross-Donaldson et al., 2024, Chapter 13). The Diversity-Informed Tenets for Work with Infants, Children, and Families, are presented as a foundational framework for decolonizing practice, stressing the necessity for critical self-reflection (Spicer et al., 2024, Chapter 2; Ross-Donaldson et al., 2024, Chapter 13). Practitioners are encouraged to be aware of their own power and privilege, how they might be perceived by families with histories of oppression, and to question how their methods might perpetuate inequities (Spicer et al., 2024, Chapter 2; Ross-Donaldson et al., 2024, Chapter 13).
Diversity-informed reflective supervision, within a social and racial justice framework, is similarly highlighted as a vital space for examining the processes related to culture and practice, and thereby contributing to the making of a globally represented IECMH field (Spicer et al., 2024, Chapter 2; Meuwissen et al., 2024, Chapter 25). Historically Eurocentric reflective supervision models, need to explore racial inequities and racialized experiences by amplifying the voices and lived experiences of practitioners who have been historically excluded from shaping IECMH theories (Ross-Donaldson et al., 2024, Chapter 13; Meuwissen et al., 2024, Chapter 25).
Essentially, the selected excerpts from the WAIMH Handbook of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health, Volume 2, challenge the biases and dominance of Western-centric knowledge in IECMH, advocating practices that are culturally relevant, equitable, and co-developed with the communities being served. It calls for a critical examination of existing theory and practice, and a targeted effort to incorporate diverse worldviews and cultural practices in order to create a tapestry of IECMH approaches to practice, that truly support all infants, young children and their families globally.
References
Osofsky, J.D., Fitzgerald, H.E., Keren, M. and Puura, K. (Eds.). (2024). WAIMH Handbook of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health – Cultural Context, Prevention, Intervention, and Treatment. Vol 2. Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-48631-9
Authors of chapters included in WAIMH Handbook of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Vol 2 review:
Puura, K. (2024). Cultural Context of Parenting and Infant Mental Health: Overview. (Chapter 1, pp. 3-6).
Spicer, P., Korfmacher, J., and Sarche, M. (2024). Justice and Care in the Ethics of Infant Mental Health. (Chapter 2, pp. 7-14).
Dawson, N., Lachman, A., Voges, J., Berg, A. (2024). Developing Culturally Sound Infant Mental Health Practice for the South African Context. (Chapter 4, pp. 39-56).
Watanabe, H. (2024). Reviving the Inner Nurturing Capacities of Families in the Unpredictable World: A Japanese Perspective on Infant Mental Health. (Chapter 5, pp. 57-74).
Keren, M. (2024). Infancy and Early Childhood Mental Health Assessment: Overview. (Chapter 10, pp.153-156).
Ross-Donaldson, S., Noroña, C.R., Dickson, A., and Kronenberg M. (2024). Diversity-Informed Practice for Parent/Caregiver Relationship Assessment. (Chapter 13, pp.187-206).
Wesner, C.A., Handeland, T., Martin, L., Asdigian, N.L., Barnes-Najor J., and Rumbaugh Whitesell N. (2024). Advancing Equity Through Engaging Communities to Address Measurement Disjuncture in Indigenous Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health. (Chapter 15, pp.227-246).
Meuwissen, A., Shea, S.E., Eaves, T., Parker, A., Barron, C.C., and Paradis N. (2024). Reflective Supervision: The State of the Field and Future Directions. (Chapter 25, pp.393-412).
Authors
du Plessis, Michelle
Department of Psychiatry, Stellenbosch University,
South Africa
