African-American Social Support Effectiveness Treatment

The objective of this treatment study is to develop and test an augmentation therapy in conjunction with maternal psychiatric treatment that targets the fathers' support of the mothers' mental health and contributions to the family environment to reduce maternal stress. The African-American Social Support Effectiveness Treatment-Partners alleviating Perinatal Depression (ASSET-PPD) intervention will be delivered to fathers in an individual setting to target the context in which a mother lives to expand her support beyond the direct reach of her treatment professional. This study provides skills and training to fathers who have a partner with prenatal depression. The aim is to reduce maternal depression during the perinatal period and improve the family environment for the infant.

Inclusion Criteria:Parents will be 18 years of age or older.Parents are eligible for the study if the woman is in the 2nd trimester, she is receiving psychiatric treatment for depression with a score of 11 or greater on the Inventory of Depressive Symptoms-Self-Rated (IDS-SR16), which indicates clinically significant symptoms, and the mother is African-AmericanParents do not need to be romantic partners to be eligible. Infants (0-6 months) are included in the study to examine the parent-infant interactionsExclusion Criteria:The parents will be excluded if:There is report of ongoing physical or sexual abuseThey have plans to terminate the pregnancyThe woman is showing symptoms of hypomania/mania, psychosis, or substance use in the past 12 monthsFather will be excluded if he:Has symptoms of psychosis in the past 12 monthsHas below 6th grade educationHas difficulty focusing on 1 hour of instruction