Early Life and Infant Mental Health Research Group
About us
Aim
To create a research hub for Early Life and Infant Mental Health at Stellenbosch University that focuses on culturally relevant and contextually sensitive research with infants and their caregivers, support and health care systems from pre-conception through the first 1000 days of life.
Mission
To create a space that will focus on early development and infant mental health (IMH), guided by the realities/needs of the Southern African context.
Our primary objectives are to encourage, facilitate, and disseminate local research that will contribute towards a more balanced global representation of evidence-based practice.
Faculty
Dr Anusha Lachman
Child Psychiatrist
IMH course coordinator and co-convenor of the MPhil IMH programme
WAIMH President's Executive at Large
Email: [email protected]
Emeritus Prof Astrid Berg
Child Psychiatrist
Co-convenor of the MPhil IMH programme
WAIMH President (2024-2028)
Email: [email protected]
Dr Berna Gerber
Speech-Languae Therapist and Audiologist
Chair of the Deaprtment of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Postgraduate Committee
Email: [email protected]
Dr Juané Voges
Clinical Psychologist
ZA-AIMH Chair
WAIMH Affiliate Council Chair
Email: [email protected]
Ms Salisha Maharaj
Clinical Psychologist
ZA-AIMH board member
Assistant editor - Perspectives in Infant Mental Health
Email: [email protected]
Dr Nicola Dawson
Counselling Psychologist
Research Development and Training Lead at Ubebele
Research Portfolio Lead of SAPPIN
NBO Trainer at the Brazelton Institute
ZA-AIMH Secretary
Associate Editor - Perspectives
Email: [email protected]
Dr Noreth Muller-Kluits
Social Worker ans Disability Researcher
Postdoctoral Research Fellow: Early Intervention ans Child Mental Health Public Square
Email: [email protected]
Education programmes
MPhil Infant Mental Health
Applications are currently closed and will open again in 2026 for registration in 2027.
IMH Online Short Course
Send enquiries about future offerings to Aneesa Thomas ([email protected])
Research
Previous research
- Shared Pleasure Paradigm in maternal-infant interactions (PI: Dr A Lachman)
- Mother-child interactions in women with peri- and postpartum psychosis (PI: Dr J Voges)
- Sensitive responsiveness - contextual and cultural applicability in Africa (PI: Dr N Dawson)
Current research
- The First 1000 days in South Africa in various contexts (implementation, nutrition, etc.) (MPhil IMH dissertations) (PI: Dr A Lachman and Prof A Berg)
- Clinical audit of the Tygerberg Infant Mental Health Clinic (MMed Psychiatry dissertation: Dr S Jassat) (PI: Dr A Lachman and Ms S Maharaj)
- Assessment of Ububele health care programmes - NBO and the Baby Mat Project (MPhil IMH dissertations) (PI: Dr N Dawson)
Transdisciplinary research
- Public Square in Early Intervention and Child Mental Health - for additional information, contact Dr A Lachman and Dr B Gerber
- Development of an intervention to support, educate, and counsel mothers of preterm infants during the infant's hospitalisation phase (Postdoctoral Fellow: Dr C Wepener)
- Exploring the relationship between infant mental health and speech-language therapy: A scoping review (M in Speech-Language Therapy: Ms C Rudolph)
Available research
- Secure base provision, infant regulation and attachment in South Africa (PI: Dr N Dawson)
- Testing attachment models in South Africa: Best predictors of attachment security (PI: Dr N Dawson)
- Efficacy of task-shifting for IMH intervention rollout (PI: Dr N Dawson)
- Infant Mental Health – A model for preventative care, and understanding caregiving in the context of children with chronic illnesses and disability (PI: Dr A Lachman, co-PI: Dr B Gerber, Dr M du Plessis (Investigator)) - OPEN CALL TO INTERESTED STUDENTS
Collaborators
- Prof Michelle Pentecost, Department of Global Health & Social Medicine, King's College London
- Prof Fiona Ross, Department of Social Anthropology & Gender Studies
- Dr Tracey Smythe, Department of Population Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the Division of Physiotherapy, Stellenbosch University
Publications
For a full list of each faculty member's publications, you can access their respective SCOPUS profiles below:
Publication highlights:
- Lachman A, Gerber B, Burger M, et al. Prioritizing infant mental health: a research-driven pathway for action. Nat Med. 2025;31, 28–30. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-024-03338-3
- Lachman A, Gerber B, Bornman J, Smythe T. Opportunities to accelerate progress in infant mental health. Lancet Child Adolesc Health. 2024;8(8):551-552. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(24)00131-7
- Lachman A, Berg A, Ross F, Pentecost M. Infant mental health in southern Africa: Nurturing a field. Lancet. 2021;398(10303):835-836. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)00998-3
IMH Students
Class of 2017
Carmen Andries
Research project: Knowledge of perinatal substance use by mothers and its effects on the mother-infant relationship amongst community health nurses
Brenda Cowley
Research project: The impact of Baby Theatre on the quality of father-infant play interaction
Lucky Ndlela
Research project: Maternal perinatal risk factors for adolescent mood disorders in an inpatient setting
Julia Noble
Research project: The self-reported knowledge and understanding of mother-infant attachment by nurses working in a postnatal ward of a tertiary hospital
Elvin Williams
Research project: The first 1000 days of life and infant mental health: perceptions of community care workers in the Drakenstein Municipality of the Western Cape
Class of 2019
Kate Armstrong
Research project: Choices in childcare: Nanny or crèche? Comparing crèche workers and domestic child minders’ self-reported knowledge, behaviours and understanding of the role they play as attachment figures
Publication: Nannies or creche: exploring child carers’ knowledge of the first 1000 days and...
Marchelle Domingo
Research project: Practices and beliefs about their infants' play amongst parents attending two state mental health clinics in South Africa
Moezna Jacobs
Research project: Infant malnutrition in relation to maternal mental health in Nomzamo, Cape Town Metro Pole
Michelle Nell
Research project: An assessment of the emotional status of infants/toddlers placed in emergency foster care versus those remaining with their biological mothers
Jeannine Subramoney
Research project: Problematic feeding behaviours in infants and the mental health of their caregivers: A descriptive study in the town of Atlantis, Western Cape
Tereza Whittaker
Research project: Covid-19: Impacting perinatal mental health service delivery in South Africa
Publication: Using Technology to Impact Maternal and Perinatal Mental Healthcare Service Delivery in South Africa
Class of 2021
Michelle du Plessis
Research project: Social support needs of mothers with hospitalised infants and their role in common perinatal mental disorders: A cross-sectional South African study
Mmatlala M Mabeba
Research project: The impact of maternal depression and HIV exposure on infant development in Khayelitsha Township, South Africa
Rachel Makoni
Research project: Infant Mental Health and Adoption: An exploratory study of prospective adoptive parents’ perceptions and experiences of inter-racial infant adoption
Kedi Motingoe
Research project: The impact of perinatal trauma and HIV exposure on maternal mental health and infant social-emotional development in Khayelitsha, South Africa
Shanaaz Sungay
Research project: The influence of maternal depression or anxiety on feeding choices for multiples
Class of 2023
Cecile-Dedri Hamman
Research project: Parenting in an age of modern music
Ra'eesa Kerbelker
Research project: Maternal mental health and infant feeding choices
Cecilia A Lebese
Research project: Investigating infants’ profiles and their mothers’ service ratings and experience of the Newborn Behavioural Observations System, when administered by health care professionals and lay counsellors in South Africa, Johannesburg
Class of 2025
Farhana Ahmed
Research project: Clinicians' knowledge and practice of infant mental health care at a district hospital in Cape Town
Phumla Gasa
Research project: The role of health care professionals in the provision of infant and perinatal mental health services in a regional hospital in KZN eThekwini district
Heather Thom
Research project: The role psychological professionals see themselves fulfilling in the provision of infant mental health care within the South African context
Nadia Zimri
Research project: Practices and barriers in providing Infant Mental Health Care services among community health workers at Kheth’Impilo in the Khayelitsha Eastern Substructure: A descriptive study
Societies and Resources
Resources
- The Handbook of DOHaD and Society - Past, Present, and Future Directions of Biosocial Collaboration
- WAIMH Handbook of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health - Cultural Context, Prevention, Intervention, and Treatment (Vol II)
Developing Culturally Sound Infant Mental Health Practice for the South African Context - Understanding the Uniqueness and Diversity in Child and Adolescent Mental Health
- Infant Mental Health in Africa: Embracing Cultural Diversity