Effectiveness of Role Lettering on Mothers Raising Their First Infant in the First Year of Life: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Purpose: To examine the effects of role lettering (RL) on mothers’ feelings toward their children, parenting anxiety, and self-esteem.

Methods: A randomized controlled trial was conducted from September 2023 to January 2024. Participants included mothers raising their first infant in the first year of life: 14 mothers were in the RL group and 12 in the control group. RLs were completed three times by the intervention group and their efficacy was evaluated with the Japanese version of the Mother-to-Infant Bonding Scale, Scale of Anxiety over Child-Rearing, and the State Self-Esteem Scale. Changes in RL descriptions were also examined and statistically tested.

Results: Mothers had mean ages of 30.8 and 33.5 years in the intervention and control groups, respectively, with children aged 6.1 and 4.9 months on average. Significant differences were found in the intervention group on the Japanese version of the Mother-to-Infant Bonding Scale (p = 0.044) and the State Self-Esteem Scale (p = 0.005), but no significant differences were found on the Scale of Anxiety over Child-Rearing. There were no significant differences between groups. There was a significant difference in the number of RLs describing the codes for <7. reflection, inner speech, and awareness> in outgoing messages and <v. different viewpoint> in reply messages.

Conclusion: Mothers’ negative feelings toward their children decreased and their state self-esteem increased. This suggests a possible effect of RL on these outcomes. However, no significant differences were found between groups, and thus the definitive effect of the intervention could not be demonstrated.