Reflective Functioning Factors in Parents of Children with Separation Anxiety Disorder: A Qualitative Research

Background and Purpose: Parental reflective functioning is an essential component of parental sensitivity and appropriate behavioral response to the child's signals and messages. This capacity shows that how much a parent can show appropriate reaction to the child's inner states. The purpose of this study was to identify factors of parental reflective functioning in parents of children with separation anxiety disorder. It was a qualitative research with an interpretative phenomenological design. The sample consists of 22 participants (9 males and 13 females) selected from parents of children with separation anxiety disorder in Mashhad in 2018. Participants were selected by purposive sampling. Data were collected by semi-structured interview, and then coded and analyzed by Diekelman’s method. Results of the interviews analysis led to the extraction of 759 initial codes, 24 concepts, and 7 categories including disability in child recognition, excessive care and protection of the child, fusion with the child, inability to understand the needs of the child, non-response to the child, the coercion of the child to change the behavior and transfer the needs of attachment to the child. While emphasizing the parental factors affecting separation anxiety, the results of this research confirm the effect of parental reflective functioning on children with separation anxiety disorder, which must be noticed in the interventions concerning these children. Particularly, parents of these children must receive training and enhance their capabilities in the field of reflective functioning.