Domain-specific social functioning improvements during treatment of depressed women with histories of childhood sexual abuse.
BACKGROUND
Deterioration in social functioning and depression are often intertwined, particularly for women with histories of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). Among women with CSA histories, some relationship domains may be more modifiable than others during time-limited depression treatment. Women with CSA histories often report long-standing interpersonal difficulties in close relationships. Thus, we expected that patients' relationships with immediate family and intimate partners would be less likely to improve during treatment than relationships with co-workers, friends, or extended family, unless patients received an interpersonally-focused intervention that targeted close relationships.


METHODS
To examine domain-specific social functioning improvements and determine whether some domains were more likely than others to respond to an interpersonally-focused intervention, we analyzed data from a randomized controlled trial investigating Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) vs. usual care (UC) in 69 depressed women with CSA histories. Participants completed the Social Adjustment Scale-SR at pretreatment, 10-, 24-, and 36-weeks.


RESULTS
Consistent with our hypotheses, patients reported significant improvements in work roles, leisure activities with friends, and relationships with extended family members over the course of treatment. Relationships with immediate family members and intimate partners did not improve in the overall sample. However, relationships with immediate family improved significantly more among IPT than UC patients.


CONCLUSIONS
The sample size is small and generalizability may be limited.


CONCLUSIONS
Social functioning improvements during depression treatment may be domain-specific among depressed women with CSA histories. IPT is more effective than UC at improving relationships with close family members in this population.
Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, United States. stephanie_gamble@urmc.rochester.edu
Stephanie A
SA
Gamble
Phillip N
PN
Smith
Ellen L
EL
Poleshuck
Hua
H
He
Nancy L
NL
Talbot
D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000523:psychology*; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008875:Middle Aged; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods; D012917:Social Adjustment; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014930:Women / Q000523:psychology*