Abstract
The pressure on mothers to be perfect and devoted caregivers is known as the ‘motherhood myth’ and can have detrimental effects on mothers’ wellbeing. While these negative consequences are commonly referred to as ‘maternal guilt’, both in psychological literature and more informally, the ‘motherhood myth’ is also likely eliciting experiences of shame and self-criticism. Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) is an effective intervention for those who experience high levels of shame and self-criticism, so has the potential to be beneficial for mothers. The main focus of the present study was to investigate the feasibility and acceptability of an online 4-week CFT intervention for mothers of neurotypical children aged 3-6 years old. It also investigated mothers’ views about the difficulty, importance, and necessity of the different stages of CFT interventions, as well as changes in mothers’ self-reported levels of compassion pre- versus post-intervention. Ninety-nine mothers agreed to take part in the intervention but only three completed all four modules, suggesting that the intervention trialled in its current form was not feasible and acceptable for the mothers who showed initial interest. The three mothers who did complete the intervention showed some clinically significant and reliable changes and provided positive feedback. Feedback from mothers about the importance and necessity of different stages of CFT suggest all components of the intervention were useful to support with the understanding and application of self-compassion. Results are discussed in the context of study limitations and provide directions for future research, which could have important clinical implications for mothers’ levels of shame and self-criticism and the associated negative consequences of these.