None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
The controlled before-and-after study of 284 mother-infant dyads will test the effectiveness of residential early parenting services to reduce postpartum maternal depression and improve infant behaviour. Mothers scoring 10 or above on the EPDS, a screening instrument for depression and reporting behaviour disturbance in their infants will be recruited from immunization clinics for the control and from residential early parenting centres for the intervention groups. Maternal mood and infant behaviour will be re-assessed using standardized psychometric measures at infant age 6 months and again when the baby is aged one year. It is hypothesized that the treated group will have lower one year postpartum rates of maternal depression, anxiety and adjustment disorders and infant behaviour disturbance than the control group receiving routine care.
Interventions
The intervention will involve attending and completing a 3 - 5 night residential admission to an early parenting centre with a baby between 3 - 5 months old. This is an observational study of an ongoing intervention and will involve follow-up assessments of participants at 6 and 12 months postpartum.
Sponsors
University of Melbourne
Study design
Allocation
Non-randomised trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
All mothers attending immusation clinics or contacting early parenting centres with their 2 – 4 month old infant and scoring 10 or more on the EPDS and reporting behaviour disturbance in their infant will be included.
Exclusion criteria
Women with insufficient English to complete interviews and written questionnaires.
Outcome results
None listed