Welcome to our April 2026 issue of Perspectives in Infant Mental Health.
In the first of our three clinical papers – AI in Infant Mental Health: Using Technology to Support Relationships, Not Replace Them – Alexander Amatus examines the way in which Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is now being used for a range of mental healthcare tasks including drafting and summarising documentation and supporting communication; he addresses the question for IMH services of not whether AI can “do” IMH, but ‘whether it can reduce friction around IMH so clinicians and caregivers have more capacity for relational work’.
In Blending Digital Prevention and Clinical Care: The Parents and Babies Program in Perinatal and Mental Health, Martin St-André and Sylvana Côté describe the Parents and Babies (https://toimoibebe.ca/en/) free, bilingual (French/English) online program for pregnant women and their partners which is designed to promote emotional well-being during the transition to parenthood (Toi, Moi, Bébé / You, Me, Baby, 2024). This paper provides a brief summary of the findings of their recent RCT that was published in BMJ Open.
In our third clinical paper Jessica Boyatt movingly describes a case study of Infant Mental Health Consulting in a Social Justice Context. This paper powerfully illustrates how infant mental health consultation operates within a social justice framework, translating complex attachment and trauma concepts into accessible language that can influence legal and caregiving systems. Through the case of Cirila and her daughter, this paper highlights both the profound impact of early relational trauma and the importance of culturally attuned, context-sensitive interventions that honour resilience while acknowledging structural inequities.
In our research paper of this issue – Keeping the Baby in Mind: Staff and Parent Perspectives on Infant Care in Paediatric Hospital Settings – Anne-Marie Casey and colleagues report the findings of a study to explore staff and parent perspectives on hospital-based infant care during paediatric admissions using a mixed-methods survey across four hospital sites of a paediatric hospital.
Our first opinion piece, Infant and Early Years Mental Health and Development: Recommendations for Data Collection and Intersectoral Collaboration by Chaya Kulkarni, Mario Cappelli, Sarah Carsley, and Kayla Beaudin, suggests that while Canada collects data on infant and early years mental health and development (IEYMHD), the breadth of data is inconsistent across and within provinces and the data may be inaccessible to decision-makers when it is not properly analyzed and reported. They report two meetings with researchers, clinicians, and decision-makers from local, provincial, and federal organizations in Ontario, that were aimed at identifying the data that is available, gaps in data collection, and fostering intersectoral collaboration to leverage existing attempts to make IEYMHD data more useful and accessible.
In our second opinion piece – Redefining Parental Reflective Functioning in Infant Mental Health within the Gulf Region, Azhar Abu Ali and Fatumo Mohammed argue for the need to adapt current Western conceptualisations of Parental Reflective Functioning to embrace the more individualistic, non-verbal and introspective parenting practices of more collectivist cultures such as those in the Gulf states.
Finally, in Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health-Is it Time for a Code of Ethics? Paula Zeanah, Jon Korfmacher, Izaak Lim, Alison Steier and Charles Zeanah invite us to think about the fact that IMH work can lead to significant ethical challenges (e.g. what should we do when the interests of the child are not perfectly aligned with the best interests of the caregiver) and invite all WAIMH and affiliate members to participate in a survey to share their experience and opinions by clicking on this link: https://redcap.link/ethicsandinfantmentalhealth. They plan to share findings from the survey through publications, presentations, and WAIMH venues.
Hoping you enjoy the first Perspectives issue of 2026.
The WAIMH Perspectives in Infant Mental Health editorial team
Jane Barlow, Editor-in-Chief, United Kingdom
Salisha Maharaj, Assistant Editor, South Africa
Maree Foley, Associate Editor, Switzerland
Jody Todd Manly, Associate Editor, United States
Azhar Abu Ali, Associate Editor, United Arab Emirates
Patricia O’Rourke, Associate Editor, Australia
Joy Osofsky, Associate Editor, United States
Harleen Hutchinson, Associate Editor, United States
Michelle du Plessis, Associate Editor, South Africa
Nicki Dawson, Associate Editor, South Africa
Lauren Keegan, Editor, Australia
Veronica Pedigo, Intern Editor, United States
Neea Aalto, Production Editor, Finland
Perspectives in Infant Mental Health Vol. 34 No. 1 | April 2026
Authors
Jane Barlow (United Kingdom), Editor-in-Chief
