Foundations in ICAMH 1 - Pēpi | Infant Mental Health

The course is aimed at workers in primary level, NGO and ICAMHS services to develop the skills and knowledge on infant, child and young person mental health and AOD concerns.

The course is part of the series: Foundations in Infant, Child, Youth and Whānau Mental Health which are an introduction for health professionals who want to improve their knowledge and skills in working with infants, children and adolescents with, or at risk of having mental health, alcohol or drug issues.

Foundations in ICAMH 1: Core concepts/ Infant | Pēpi Mental Health

This course provides an overview of the core concepts that underpin work with infants, children, young people and their whānau.

Whāinga akoranga | Learning objectives:

• Overview of the brains of infants and children.
• Define several theoretical concepts of the social, emotional and cognitive development of infants.
• Gain an understanding of diverse cultural contexts of infant development, attachment theories and practices.
• Define attachment and describe secure attachment in an infant. 
• Identify the four main types of attachment. 
• Compare and contrast infants’ temperaments and comment on how stable temperament is across infancy, childhood and adolescence. 
• Describe effective parenting and recall four types of parenting styles. 
• Understand how the ‘rouge test’ can be used to establish theory of mind, and identify why theory of mind is important in emotional development.
• Describe the impact of families and systems, and how these directly influence the health and wellbeing of infants. 
• Define common mental health disorders seen in infancy and early childhood (in particular problems with feeding and sleeping).

As you work through the course any additional resources are listed at the bottom of many pages. These have been collated for your interest and are not mandatory readings.

Certificates

Following this course, you will find a short quiz designed to help consolidate your learning. After completion, hit the 'Submit' button to get your certificate for two hours of CME.

Acknowledgements

This content has been developed by Whāraurau, a workforce development centre for child and youth mental health, situated within UniServices, at the University of Auckland. It was reviewed by Dr Carin Conaghan MBChB (Otago), FRANZCP in 2018.