Effects of an Early Home Visiting Program on Maternal Depression
Date
2025-04-04
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research
Abstract
Maternal depression has been associated with negative parenting behaviors and poor developmental outcomes in children. Home visiting programs have positively impacted parenting behaviors and child outcomes; however, such programs often require specialized, highly trained professionals, resulting in a limited number of home visiting providers. One home visiting parenting program, Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up (ABC), does not have requirements regarding experience or background to become an ABC parent coach and deliver the intervention. ABC consists of ten 1-hour weekly sessions for parents of children between 0 and 6 months (ABC-Newborn), 6–24 months (ABC-Infant) or 24–48 months (ABC-Early Childhood). ABC has demonstrated efficacy in improving parental sensitivity and children’s developmental outcomes. A randomized clinical trial in one community implementation setting showed that ABC decreased maternal depressive symptoms. The current study aimed to replicate this finding across multiple implementation sites and expand on it by exploring if the effect differed by ABC model. Data included a community sample of 163 families from six countries who completed ABC. Maternal reports of depressive symptoms were collected prior to and after receiving ABC. Results showed a significant decrease in maternal depressive symptoms scores from pre-intervention to post-intervention regardless of ABC model. Findings demonstrate that a home visiting parenting intervention program can successfully leverage non-traditional mental health providers to ensure that mothers and children receive necessary resources and support.
Description
This article was originally published in Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-025-01440-3.
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Keywords
maternal depression, parenting, early intervention, risk, community sample
Citation
McLaughlin, K., Fasano, R.M. & Dozier, M. Effects of an Early Home Visiting Program on Maternal Depression. Adm Policy Ment Health (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-025-01440-3