Research & Scholarship
The Center for Reflective Functioning supports research, scholarship, and professional dialogue related to reflective functioning, mentalization, attachment, caregiving, and relational practice across clinical, child welfare, and educational settings.
Research Philosphy
Our work integrates psychoanalytic theory, developmental psychology, attachment research, and child welfare perspectives in order to deepen understanding of how reflective capacities emerge, develop, and support psychological growth within relationships.
The Center’s research initiatives are grounded in the belief that emotional understanding and relational reflection are central to healing, caregiving, and therapeutic change.
Current areas of inquiry also include reflective functioning assessment, parental mentalization, and the development of clinically meaningful approaches to understanding caregiving relationships.ps.
Areas of Inquiry
Reflective Functioning & Mentalization
Exploring how caregivers understand behavior in terms of underlying emotional and mental states, and how reflective functioning supports attachment, caregiving, and psychological development.
Relational Trauma & Attachment
Investigating the developmental impact of trauma, attachment disruption, and relational adversity on caregiving relationships and parent-child development.
Foster, Adoptive, & Kinship Caregiving
Exploring how reflective caregiving supports attachment, relational security, and developmental outcomes within foster, adoptive, and kinship family systems.
Psychoanalytic Perspectives & Social Work
Exploring how psychoanalytic and developmental perspectives inform social work practice, child welfare, and professional education.
Current Research Initiatives
RF-FMSS: Development & Validation of a Brief Measure of Parental Reflective Functioning
This initiative focuses on the development and validation of the Reflective Functioning Five Minute Speech Sample (RF-FMSS), reflective functioning assessment measure designed to assess parental reflective functioning and mentalization within caregiving relationships. The RF-FMSS was developed to provide a clinically meaningful and accessible assessment of reflective functioning for use within research, training, and applied practice settings. Current research examines the reliability, validity, and clinical utility of the measure across caregiving populations, including ongoing collaborative work related to international validation efforts and attachment-informed, mentalization-based research applications.
The RF-FMSS measure and coding manual are currently available for research and training purposes. Development is also underway for an online coding training program designed to support broader dissemination, reliability training, and interdisciplinary implementation across clinical and research settings.
Family Minds: A Reflective/Mentalization-Based Parenting Intervention
This initiative centers on Family Minds, a mentalization-based psychoeducational intervention developed to strengthen the reflective functioning, reflective parenting capacities, and emotional understanding among foster parents caring for children with histories of trauma and relational adversity. Integrating attachment theory, developmental psychology, psychoanalytic perspectives, and reflective caregiving approaches, the intervention was designed to help caregivers better understand children’s behavior in terms of underlying emotional and mental states while also increasing awareness of their own emotional reactions within caregiving relationships.
A randomized controlled trial conducted with foster parents in Texas found that participation in Family Minds was associated with significant improvements in reflective functioning, reductions in pre-mentalizing modes of thinking, and decreased parenting stress related to difficult parent-child interactions. Findings also suggested possible longer-term improvements in children’s emotional functioning and prosocial behavior.
Ongoing work includes collaboration with researchers and trainers in England examining the implementation and effectiveness of the intervention across caregiving and training contexts. Future phases of research aim to explore broader dissemination and implementation models, including training additional facilitators and evaluating outcomes across settings and providers.
Affiliated Educational & Scholarly Initiatives
The following initiatives reflect ongoing interdisciplinary efforts to advance reflective, relational, and psychoanalytically informed approaches within clinical practice, social work education, and caregiving systems.
Sue Fairbanks Psychoanalytic Academy
The Sue Fairbanks Psychoanalytic Academy is an interdisciplinary educational initiative originally developed at the University of Texas at Austin to support the integration of psychoanalytic thought, reflective practice, and relationally informed clinical understanding within social work education and practice. The Academy is currently transitioning to the American Association for Psychoanalysis in Clinical Social Work, where Dr. Adkins continues to serve as Director.
The Academy’s work focuses on advancing psychoanalytic and reflective approaches within contemporary social work, child welfare, and interdisciplinary clinical training environments.
Selected Publications & Scholarly Writing
Adkins, T., Reisz, S., Hasdemir, D., & Fonagy, P. (2022)
Family Minds: A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Group Intervention to Improve Foster Parents’ Reflective Functioning.
Development and Psychopathology, 34(3), 1177–1191.
Adkins, T. (2024)
Mentalization Practice.
In Social Work Treatment: Interlocking Theoretical Approaches (7th ed.). Oxford University Press. Chapter 22.
Adkins, T., Dosanjh, L., & Fonagy, P. (In Prep)
Validation of a new measure of parental mentalizing: The Reflective Functioning Five Minute Speech Sample procedure (RF-FMSS).
Dosanjh, L., Adkins, T., Coulter, K. et al. (2026)
Adverse Childhood Experiences and Parenting Stress in Foster Families: Mentalizing as a Pathway to Strain.
Journal of Child & Family Studies.
Reisz, S., Aviles, A., & Adkins, T. (2023)
Foster Parents’ Attachment, Trauma Histories, and Current Parenting Stress.
Children and Youth Services Review.
Research Collaboration & Scholarly Inquiries
The Center for Reflective Functioning welcomes thoughtful dialogue and collaborative inquiry related to reflective functioning, attachment-informed practice, mentalization-based approaches, foster and adoptive caregiving, and interdisciplinary psychoanalytic scholarship.
For research-related inquiries, collaborative opportunities, training interests, or questions regarding ongoing initiatives, please contact: