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In recent years increasing attention has been paid to the importance of educating mothers of young children. Two aspects of such work have been described: Education of parents in a general way as a prophylactic measure, and work with individual mothers who ask for assistance in dealing with a developmental phase in an individual child. Fries (3) has emphasised the former aspect. Ruben and Thomas (4) have described work with individual mothers referred to them for a particular difficulty. During the last 2 years the writer has had the opportunity of working with individual mothers of infants and young children who have been referred to her because of some difficulty in development. The mothers have been interviewed either in the local Maternity and Child Welfare Clinic which the writer attends each week, or in the Child Guidance Clinic of which she is a member of the staff.
The general aim of interviews with these mothers has been to give them knowledge on which to base a change in their handling of the child, in such a way that the child can take a step forward in ego development. In some cases no more is required of the mother than a change in the handling of a particular situation, while in other cases much more has been required, as for instance, the interpretation of unconscious conflicts in order to bring about a change in the structure of the child's personality. In these cases the mother is fulfilling the role of the therapist. The mothers attend either of the Clinics for an hour without the child and are seen at weekly or fortnightly intervals. Certain theoretical questions arise from work of this kind which it is the object of this article to discuss:
I.What is the content of interviews of this kind? What methods are used by the worker to achieve her aim?