Depression significantly impacts behavioural adoption — But Care Groups reduce depression and mitigate the effect

Save the Date for another exciting Care Groups Interest Group webinar on Thursday, June 25 at 11:00am EDT: “Depression significantly impacts behavioural adoption — But Care Groups reduce depression and mitigate the effect.” Tom Davis, the Global Sector Lead on Health & Nutrition for World Vision, and Erin Pfeiffer, an Independent Consultant, will present findings from a randomized control trial in Uganda. Sign on details to follow.

A staggering one in five mothers experiences depression after birth in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) where access to therapeutic interventions and mental health services is limited. Maternal depression is associated with poor child health, growth, and development, possibly due to reduced caregiver responsiveness, functioning, and uptake of caregiving practices. Addressing caregiver mental health is thus a critical component of improving health and nutrition of children. A recently completed randomized controlled trial in Uganda – implemented by Food for the Hungry, World Vision International, Columbia University, and Johns Hopkins University – studied the impact of maternal depression and its treatment with Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Groups (IPT-G) followed by 15 months of Care Group health education. This seminal study found that women treated with IPT-G had a slightly greater reduction of depression than in control mothers and significantly better adoption of behaviours. On top of treatment impact, depression status itself was shown to impact behaviour uptake: On average, non-depressed women had adoption rates that were 39 percentage points better than depressed women on the behaviours promoted (before the CG intervention began).  By the end of the study, depression among the study participants – all of whom participated in the Care Group approach used for behaviour change – continued to decline to about 5% (from 100% at baseline) which may be due to a therapeutic effect on depression through the Care Group intervention itself.

Join us on June 25th to hear more about this interesting study and discuss its potential implications for Care Group programming!