St. Petersburg University Department of Child and Parent Mental Health and Early Intervention: Contribution to the field of child development in parent-child interactions and early intervention

In 2025 the annual international conference “Ananyev Readings” at St. Petersburg State University was dedicated to infants’ and young children’s development and mental health, and early intervention for children and their families. The purpose of this paper is to review contribution of the University Department of Child and Parent Mental Health and Early Intervention to this study field. The paper briefly summarizes research projects conducted by the Department staff members: project of the first in Russia early intervention program based in day-care center for young children, studies of socio-emotional environment in St. Petersburg institution for infants and young children and its impact on children's bio-behavioral development indicators. The paper highlights research data from Russian-American projects on the effects of early social emotional and relationship experience on the behavior and development of children in orphanages and after transition from orphanages to substitute families, data from the study of effectiveness of research based early intervention program for children in substitute families, and research information from studies of psychological characteristics of women during pregnancy and after childbirth. It briefly presents theories of early intervention and describes perspective of integrative theoretical model of early intervention. The paper observes contribution of the Department to the development of country level documents aimed to change living environment for orphan children and children left without parental care in Russian institutions, as well as documents governing early intervention in Russia.

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