Newpin: can it be as shiny as it sounds?

A voluntary program for families with young children, Newpin tries to reduce parental emotional stress and depression, improve the relationships between parents and children and raise parental self-esteem.

It started out in London in the 1980s as a voluntary organization with a base at the Elephant and Castle and has since been assimilated into the services offered more widely by the Family Welfare Association.

A mixture of self-help, group work, therapy and training based on the befriending of women by trained volunteers, Newpin engagement begins with a referral, usually by a health visitor, social worker, antenatal services or a psychiatrist. Many of the women have long histories of unhelpful contact with agencies, and so the first phase is recognized as critical in making a new sort of contract with families who are suspicious and lacking trust.

From the start, the woman is asked to decide for herself whether she wants to be involved; the emphasis is on her as a person rather than how she might be a better mother, on the assumption that the residual turmoil of her previous experiences poses a risk not only to her own well-being but also to her capacity to understand to the needs of her children.

Newpin aims to respond to “the hurt child within the mother”. Women are interviewed in detail about their own lives and then matched with another woman, a trained volunteer. The only qualification to train is to be a mother – and many women progress from seeking help to training in that role.

Two substantial evaluations of Newpin have been carried out and give rise to some reservations about the effectiveness of the service. Cox and colleagues (1991) described the high rates of adverse early experiences in the lives of both befrienders and referrals, but higher rates of depression in those referred for befriending. Almost a third did not sustain their involvement in the scheme; interestingly it was those who had longer-term mental health problems who were most likely to remain involved. Those who had trained as volunteers were more likely to benefit.

There were improvements in the women’s depression and sense of isolation but less evidence of benefit in the parent child relationship. At this stage the emphasis was on supporting maternal mental health with less focus on parenting. The results are in line with the findings of Cooper and colleagues and Murray and colleagues that while a variety of interventions can reduce maternal depression, this does not lead to automatic improvement in mother-child relationships.

A second evaluation in 1995 by Oakley and colleagues reported that over half the women referred to Newpin did not go on to use its services. In some cases the referral may have been inappropriate or the services inaccessible because of distance, lack of fluent English, or the woman’s working hours. However, 41% of those who filled in a questionnaire reported that Newpin had not helped them to change their lives; only one third felt that it had helped with child-rearing problems.

Given that less than half those contacted filled in the questionnaires, and one might assume that those who did not return questionnaires were the most needy and least well-disposed towards the program, the question remains as to how effective Newpin was in this study in reaching and helping the most disadvantaged families. Following this research, work with mothers and children has been increased and the Family Welfare Association program incorporates family play sessions to help parents relate positively to their children through play.

Newpin was listed as an effective example of a parenting program by UK Department for Education and Skills (now the Department for Children, Schools and Families). There is certainly value in a service that supports parents as well as intervening in parenting.

The founder Anne Jenkins’s original aims and vision were unique. The opportunity for parents to reflect in a psycho-dynamic way was not, and is still not, widely available to parents particularly the most socially and financially disadvantaged. Yet it is clear that cycles of disadvantage are maintained across generations. Healing the scars of the parent’s emotional history and direct support with parenting may be equally essential for the most troubled families.

References
Cooper, P. J., Murray, L., Wilson, A., & Romaniuk, H. (2003) “Controlled trial of the short- and long-term effect of psychological treatment of post-partum depression: 1. impact on maternal mood”, The British Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 182, pp412-419.

Cox, A.D., Pound, A., Mills, M., Puckering, C. and Owen, A.L.(1991) “Evaluation of a home visiting and befriending scheme for young mothers: Newpin”. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, vol. 84, pp217-220

Lederer J and McHugh(2006) ”FWA Newpin – a model of working with parents with mental health problems and their young children” [1]

Moran P, Ghate D and van der Merwe A (2004)”What Works in Parenting Support? A Review of the International Evidence” [2]. Research Brief No. RB574, London: Department for Education and Skills.

Murray, L., Cooper, P. J., Wilson, A., & Romaniuk, H. (2003) “Controlled trial of the short- and long-term effect of psychological treatment of post-partum depression: 2. Impact on the mother-child relationship and child outcome.” The British Journal of Psychiatry, vol.182, pp420-427.

Oakley, A., Mauthner, M. Rajan, L. and Turner, H. (1995) “Supporting vulnerable families: an evaluation of NewPin”. Health Visitor, vol. 68, p188-191