Depression
Conditions
Keywords
Early Head Start Program
Brief summary
This study will test the effectiveness of a short-term intervention in treating depressed young mothers with young children enrolled in Early Head Start Programs.
Detailed description
Limited resources, poor social support, and complex life problems contribute to the high prevalence and severity of depressive symptoms in low-income mothers. As depressive symptoms persist, they often rob young mothers of the energy they need for school, job training, and positive interaction with their children, which can negatively affect a child's language acquisition, intellectual development, and social conduct. This study will design and implement a home-based treatment to help young mothers manage their depressive symptoms, increase their social support, manage or resolve life issues, and effectively parent their infant or toddler through the use of EHS resources. Mothers will be randomly assigned to receive either home-based interpersonal depression treatment or an attention control/usual care condition for 26 weeks. Assessments will be made at study start and Weeks 14, 22, and 26. Depression scales, interviews, and analyses of videotaped mother-child interactions will be used to assess participants. Stress, social support, and use of EHS services will be assessed.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALModified Interpersonal Therapy
Psychiatric mental health nurses will meet with participants 10 times, an hour each time, over a period of 14 weeks. The nurses will continue to work with the mothers over the next 8 weeks by phone, conducting 5 fifteen minute phone sessions.
BEHAVIORALAttention control/usual care
Participants will receive the usual care for depression.
Sponsors
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
FEMALE
Age
15 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Score of 16 or higher on the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) Scale * Child who is 6 weeks to 30 months old * Child who is enrolled in an Early Head Start program
Exclusion criteria
* Regular use of psychotropic medication * Regular use of psychotherapy or drug/alcohol treatment
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Level of depressive symptoms | Measured at Week 26 |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Mother child interactions | Measured at Week 26 |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed