Depressed Mothers in Rural Areas: Web-Facilitated Cognitive Behavioral Treatment

Summary

Low income mothers of young children represent a disadvantaged group who are at exceptional risk for depressive syndromes and who have increasingly limited access to mental health services. The proposed project is designed to evaluate Mom-Net, an internet-facilitated cognitive-behavioral(CBT) intervention for depression, adapted from Lewinsohn's Coping with Depression Course, and tailored to mothers of young children. Mom-Net, which was developed and piloted in an recently completed NIMH-funded investigation (MH070426), was designed to overcome the substantial barriers to treatment participation that exist for mothers experiencing economic hardship and those in rural communities. Though the pilot trial demonstrated that the program was very effective in reducing depressive symptoms and related difficulties, it was conducted under the 'idealized' conditions typical of initial intervention tests (e.g., computers and internet connections were supplied to all participants; access to the internet was provided by a single browser; coaches who provided weekly phone support were research staff, and initial recruitment and motivational interviews sessions were conducted via home visits to participants). These conditions likely facilitated recruitment and retention of participants, as well as ease and fidelity of treatment delivery. Thus one goal of the current project is to evaluate the intervention under conditions that are closer to those of real-world service providers and recipients. The current project is also intended to provide a more rigorous test of the intervention than did the pilot in a number of ways. Participants in the pilot trial will be 300 mothers of 3-5 year old children recruited through Head Start classrooms and prescreened for the presence of elevated depressive symptoms.Subsequent to the pre-intervention assessment, participants will be randomized to either the intervention or facilitated usual care (FUC) condition. The evaluation of the intervention will focus on maternal depressive symptoms, parenting behavior, and child adjustment. Two follow-up assessments (at 12-month and 24-month intervals) will enable us to examine maintenance of effects. Overall, the investigation will contribute to the evidentiary base regarding the dissemination potential of this empirically-supported intervention, adaptations to which have the potential to enable a greater proportion of the population to access and benefit from it.

Conditions

• Maternal Care Patterns

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Mom-Net

The Mom-Net intervention is an internet-facilitated cognitive-behavioral intervention for depression, adapted from the CWDC, and tailored to mothers of young children. Mom-Net has several core components: 1. A guided course for self-regulated learning of CBT skills. 2. A system of professional support in which coaches provide weekly 15-20 min phone check-ins (coach calls) in order to encourage and facilitate progress through the intervention and respond rapidly to participant queries and emergencies. In this regard, coaches benefited from: a) a 'behind the scenes" administration page on the website that enabled them to track participants' progress through the intervention and use this information to tailor coaching sessions; and b) an automated system for alerting coaches/supervisors when participants were in crisis. 3. A coach-moderated bulletin board that approximated the social support provided by group administration.

BEHAVIORAL

Coach-facilitated Treatment as Usual

Participants in the facilitated usual care (FUC) condition will receive assistance in accessing mental health interventions through community providers that serve low-income individuals. In order to control for the supportive attention provided to mothers in the MN condition by the weekly coach calls, mothers in the FUC condition will receive weekly check-in calls from research staff during the intervention period. Participants in both conditions will receive Booster calls during the follow-up period.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Oregon Research Institute

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Sex

FEMALE

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2012-09-30

Primary Completion

2016-06-30

Completion

2017-04-30

Countries

• United States

Study Locations