title: Depression Treatment by Non-Mental-Health Providers: Incremental Evidence for the Effectiveness of Listening Visits.
abstract: Maternal depression is a prevalent public health problem, particularly for low-income mothers of young children. Intervention development efforts, which often focus on surmounting instrumental barriers to care, have not successfully engaged and retained women in treatment. Task-sharing approaches like Listening Visits (LV) could overcome key instrumental and psychological barriers by leveraging the access of trusted, community caregivers to deliver treatment. A recent randomized controlled trial (RCT) demonstrated the efficacy of LV delivered by non-mental-health providers as compared to usual care. The present report presents results from a follow-up phase of that RCT during which participants who had completed LV were followed for an additional 8 weeks and completed measures of depression and quality of life. In addition, participants who were initially randomized to the wait-list control group received LV and were assessed. Treatment gains previously observed in participants completing LV were enhanced during the 8-week follow-up period. Participants receiving LV during the follow-up period experienced significant improvement in depressive symptoms. Results demonstrate the sustainability of LV delivered by non-mental-health providers, and provide preliminary evidence for the replicability of this approach in a sample of predominately low-income pregnant women and mothers of young children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, The University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA.
authors.forename: Rebecca L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Brock
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.
authors.forename: Michael W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: O'Hara
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.
authors.forename: Lisa S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Segre
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000488:Allied Health Personnel; D003863:Depression / Q000628:therapy*; D019052:Depression, Postpartum / Q000628:therapy*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000628:therapy; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000628:therapy*; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009035:Mothers; D011340:Problem Solving; D011788:Quality of Life; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Depression; Listening visits; Low income; Mothers of young children; Non-mental-health providers; Pregnant women; Sustainability