Pilot Randomized Trial of Together in Parenting, a Novel Digital Paternal Postpartum Depression Prevention Intervention
Women and Infants Hospital of Rhode Island
Summary
Postpartum depression (PPD) occurs almost as often among men as it does among women. However, while there have been multiple programs designed to prevent maternal PPD, few, if any, interventions exist that have been created specifically to prevent paternal PPD. After engaging in evidence-based qualitative research with soon-to-be or new fathers, a novel interpersonal-therapy based digital program was created to prevent paternal PPD called Together in Parenting (TIP), which comprises multiple podcasts and digital educational handouts. The proposed pilot study will examine the feasibility and acceptability of using TIP as a paternal PPD intervention, will determine the optimal timing of administering TIP to future/new fathers, and will generate preliminary estimates of effect of the intervention to support a future efficacy study.
Description
Postpartum depression (PPD) PPD affects 10-15% of women and 8-10% of men. Despite the similar prevalence, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) endorses psychotherapy approaches to prevent PPD for mothers, but no stand-alone preventive interventions specifically targeting paternal PPD exist. Primary paternal PPD prevention is crucial because paternal PPD is underdiagnosed and undertreated. It is hard to identify fathers who have PPD because PPD symptoms affect fathers differently than mothers due to cultural conceptions of masculinity, leading to the risk that fathers do no…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 18+ years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria: 1. English-speaking (for now, TIP is only available in English) 2. age \>18 years old, 3. smartphone ownership or access to home internet, 4. partner or patient received or receiving prenatal care from a resident or nurse-practitioner/midwifery clinic at the Obstetrics and Gynecologic Care Center (OGCC) at Women \& Infants Hospital of Rhode Island (WIHRI) or receiving an ultrasound at the WIHRI's Prenatal Diagnosis Center , 5. planned delivery or status post delivery at WIHRI. Exclusion Criteria: 1. Any self-reported active diagnosis or history of mental health condition…
Interventions
- BehavioralTogether in Parenting
Together in Parenting is an novel digital intervention that was designed specifically to prevent paternal postpartum depression and optimized via qualitative research with target end-users. The interpersonal therapy-based program contains four modules that include content on infant care and parenting education and a progressive, interactive interpersonal therapy-based curriculum. Each module contains four audio- and video-record podcasts that last 8-15 minutes, with most less than 10 minutes. In addition, TIP contains voluntary exercises to engage users with specific content after some podcast (there are 10 exercises in total). Those who complete all four modules and all will receive a digital certificate of completion.
Location
- Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode IslandProvidence, Rhode Island