Video-feedback intervention (VIPP-SD)

Domain V · Systemic, relational, group & community · Juffer, Bakermans-Kranenburg, van IJzendoorn · 2008 · Leiden, Netherlands

What it is

VIPP-SD (Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline) is a short, manualised, home-based preventive intervention for caregivers of children aged about 1 to 6 who struggle with sensitive responding or with setting limits, which puts the relationship at risk and…

Format

• Format: one-to-one home visits with the primary caregiver and the child. Current Leiden format: 7 visits of about 2 hours. Trial formats: 6 sessions of 1 to 1.5 hours. A partner may join the boosters. The protocol is standardised in structure and themes but personalised, because all feedback uses…
• Spacing (it varies by version): about every two weeks for the themed visits, then 3 to 4 weeks before each booster (Schoemaker et al. 2020). Roughly fortnightly with boosters a month apart in Healthy Start, Happy Start (Ramchandani et al. 2017). Monthly, with boosters 2 and 4 months later, in the…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Delivery requirements: only a certified VIPP-SD intervener may deliver it under the name. Leiden route: about 4 days of basic training, a supervised first case, then certification and registration, roughly 6 months in all. Extra training is needed for VIPP-AUTI, VIPP-FC/A and VIPP-CC. Swedish route under VIPP-SD International rules (Ericastiftelsen, 2025): 5 course days, about 3 months of supervised practice with a…
• Version followed: the Leiden standard VIPP-SD protocol (Juffer, Bakermans-Kranenburg & van IJzendoorn; manual finalised 2008) in its current 7-visit home format as described by the Leiden VIPP Training and Research Centre (an introductory filming visit, four themed visits, two boosters). Most trial reports describe the same content as 6 sessions (four themed + two boosters), with the first filming done in session 1;…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Does it use a device, heat, cold, water or a physical procedure? Has a medical professional checked that it is safe for you?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• the brochure standing in for discussion; use it as a reminder only.
• the parent reading only big signals (crying); work towards the small ones.
• relapse after the gap. It's working when the parent spontaneously uses the themes' language and the improvements hold.
• a lecture rather than a dialogue, or too many clips. It's working when the caregiver begins pointing out moments themselves.
• the parent seeing only the child's reaction, not their own part in it. It's working when the parent can describe chains in new footage.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.