Adaptation of an evidence-based postpartum depression intervention: feasibility and acceptability of mothers and babies 1-on-1

Abstract

BackgroundMothers and Babies (MB) is a cognitive-behavioral intervention with demonstrated efficacy in reducing depressive symptoms and preventing depressive episodes among perinatal women when delivered in a group format by mental health professionals. Study aims were to describe the adaptation of MB into a 1-on-1 modality (MB 1-on-1) and provide data on the adapted intervention’s acceptability and feasibility.MethodsSeventy-five home visitors trained on MB 1-on-1 delivered the 15-session intervention to 1–2 clients. Client acceptability data assessed intervention enjoyment, comprehension, and usefulness. Home visitor feasibility and acceptability data measured amount of intervention material delivered, client comprehension, and client engagement.ResultsHome visitors were all female with 8.8 years of experience on average. 117 clients completed acceptability surveys. Average client age was 21.9 years and 41% were pregnant. Home visitors completely covered 87.9% of sessions and reported clients totally understood MB material 82.5% of the time across sessions, although variability was found in comprehension across modules. 82.0% of clients found MB 1-on-1 enjoyable and 91.6% said they totally understood sessions, when averaged across sessions. Clients enjoyed content on noticing one’s mood and pleasant activities. Implementation challenges were client engagement, facilitating completion of personal projects, and difficulty shifting between didactic and interactive activities.ConclusionsClients found MB 1-on-1 to be enjoyable, easily understood, and useful. Home visitors reported excellent implementation fidelity and felt clients understood MB material. A refined 12-session version of MB 1-on-1 should be examined for its effectiveness in reducing depressive symptoms, given encouraging feasibility and acceptability data.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12884-018-1726-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The Development and Pilot of a Technology-Based Intervention in the United States for Father’s Mental Health in the Perinatal Period

“…We developed a draft version of the FAB intervention content and worksheets to guide specific focus group topics. The core FAB intervention content is based on the same core components (CBT, Attachment Theory) and modular structure as MB ( Jensen et al, 2018 ; Le et al, 2015; McFarlane et al, 2017 ; D. Tandon et al, 2018 ). A study investigator (CG) has extensively studied fathers and health and developed a smartphone app to support parents of very low birth-weight infants as they transition to home from the NICU and findings from this research supported the development of FAB ( Garfield, Duncan, et al, 2014 ; Garfield, Lee, et al, 2014 ; Kim et al, 2015 ; D. Tandon et al, 2018 ).…”

Prevalence and correlates of maternal early stimulation behaviors during pregnancy in northern Ghana: a cross-sectional survey

“…This study uses cross-sectional pre-intervention baseline data from a parent study that is a longitudinal, cluster randomized control trial (Clinical Trials # NCT03665246) to evaluate the impact of a maternal mental health/ECD intervention called Integrated Mothers and Babies Course (iMBC) [ 16 , 17 ]. The parent trial included 32 communities/clusters with 16 clusters per arm.…”

Prevalence and Correlates of Maternal Early Stimulation Behaviors during Pregnancy in Northern Ghana: A Cross-Sectional Survey

“…Mental health was assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), a common depression screener that has been validated for use among pregnant women in Ghana (25). The PHQ-9 has nine items that are summed for a score between 0 and 27 and standard categorization: minimal or no depression (score of 0 to 4), mild depression (5-9), moderate depression (10 to 14), moderately severe depression (15)(16)(17)(18)(19), and severe depression (20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27) (26). For analysis, we dichotomized the PHQ-9 into none to mild depression (score of less than 10) and moderate to extremely severe (score of 10 or greater), based on those who would have screened for no treatment or treatment in a clinical setting (25,27).…”

“…This study uses cross-sectional pre-intervention baseline data from a parent study that is a longitudinal, cluster randomized control trial (Clinical Trials # NCT03665246) to evaluate the impact of a maternal mental health/ECD intervention called Integrated Mothers and Babies Course (iMBC) (16,17). The parent trial included 32 communities/clusters with 16 clusters per arm.…”