Why Care?
Postpartum depression doesn't always go away on its own. About 500,000 women in the United States each year experience postpartum depression (PPD), and an estimated 50% of these women are not evaluated or treated. Infants with mothers with PPD are at an increased risk for impaired psychological and behavioral development, and later social and academic problems when compared to children whose mothers are unaffected by PPD, according to research. While medication and psychotherapy offer promising results for treating PPD, treatments to reduce the negative effects of PPD on the mother-infant relationship have largely been ignored.
Goals
The CARE Intervention for Depressed Mothers and Their Infants is a randomized clinical trial designed to test the efficacy of a teaching/coaching intervention for promoting positive maternal-infant relational effectiveness.
METHODOLOGY
During Phase I, postpartum mothers were recruited from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. Mothers were then contacted by nurse screeners via telephone or mail-in survey 4 weeks after delivery. Women with elevated depression screening scores were then contacted by Advanced Practice Nurses (APRN) for an indepth diagnostic interview. Women who had elevated PPD symptoms were invited to participate in Phase II of the study.
In Phase II, after giving Informed Consent, mothers were randomized to control or treatment groups. Participating mothers received home visits from research nurses from 2 months to 9 months postpartum, were asked to complete several questionnaires and were videotaped interacting with their babies.
In Phase III, mothers who indicated that they were willing to be contacted for follow-up in the future were invited to participate in either an individual or focus group interview.