ABSTRACT
The National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine (NAS/IOM, 2000) argue for disseminating neuroscientific and psychological research to caregivers, citing misconceptions, debates raging without evidence, and a tendency to treat “nature” and “nurture” as mutually exclusive. Altering caregiver reasoning and behavior requires creating new mental models of the brain and mind. NAS/IOM (2000) reported that existing interventions fail in accommodating sociocultural factors, and in empowering family decision making. Furthermore, the clearest benefits of caregiver knowledge and skills have been to children disadvantaged by such events as brain injury (Kinsella, Ong, Murtagh, Prior & Sawyer, 1999), and neglect or abuse (Bakermans-Kranenburg, Ijzendoorn, & Juffer, 2003); Given that such trauma is often emotionally challenging, the most important caregiver models may be constructed in the context of strong social and affective pressures.
