Impact of a mother-infant intervention in an indigent peri-urban South African context: pilot study.
BACKGROUND
A high rate of maternal depression and associated disturbance in the mother-infant relationship has been found in an indigent peri-urban South African community, Khayelitsha. The question arises whether a community-based intervention could be beneficial.


OBJECTIVE
To train community workers to deliver an intervention to mothers and infants in Khayelitsha, and to compare mothers and infants receiving this intervention with a sample receiving no such intervention.


METHODS
Four Khayelitsha women were trained in a mother-infant intervention, which they delivered to 32 women recruited in late pregnancy. At 6 months post-partum, maternal mood, the mother-infant relationship and infant growth were assessed. The findings were compared with a matched group of 32 mothers and infants.


RESULTS
There was no reliable impact of the intervention on maternal mood. However, compared with the comparison sample, the quality of mother-infant engagement was significantly more positive for those who had received the intervention.


CONCLUSIONS
The pilot study produced preliminary evidence of a benefit of a community-based mother-infant intervention delivered by trained, but otherwise unqualified, community workers, sufficient to warrant a formal controlled evaluation of this treatment.
Cooper
Peter J
PJ
Department of Psychology, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 6AL, UK. p.j.cooper@reading.ac.uk
Landman
Mireille
M
Tomlinson
Mark
M
Molteno
Christopher
C
Swartz
Leslie
L
Murray
Lynne
L
D000328:Adult; D002657:Child Development; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000379:methods; D003150:Community Health Workers / Q000193:education; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D019052:Depression, Postpartum / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006128:Growth; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011181:Postnatal Care / Q000379:methods*; D011204:Poverty Areas; D013019:South Africa; D014504:Urban Health