Project Title:	Prenatal Depression Treated by Couples' vs Women’s Group Interpersonal Psychotherapy
Principal Investigator/Program Director:	Tiffany Field, Ph.D.
Other Investigators and Departments (or other Universities, if applicable):	Miguel Diego, Ph.D.
Community Based Organization-Collaborator (if applicable)	NA
Funding Source (e.g., NICHD, NCI, Dept of Education, Children’s Trust):	NIMH
Annual Direct Costs:	$200,000
Annual Facility and Administration Costs (F&A) and Rate, (e.g., 53%, 10%):	53%
Total Project Award (Combined Direct and F&A Costs):	$607,123
Dates of Award (if pending, indicated Pending):	Pending
Lay Abstract (in space below): Please be concise (space below will word wrap and expand)	Please include: (a) Specific Aims, Objectives, and/or Hypotheses of the study; (b) Participants (disease or disability, age, gender, child, family, etc), (c) Project type (eg., descriptive study, service demonstration project, case study, ethnographic study, clinical trial); (d) Brief description of methods and procedures; and (e) anticipated outcomes/benefits
Prenatal depression affects approximately 30% of pregnant women and their fetuses and offspring, highlighting the need for prenatal intervention. The literature on antidepressants and other forms of therapy is mixed, and only one study could be found on interpersonal therapy with prenatal depression. Based on that study which documented reduced depression following individual interpersonal psychotherapy and on pilot data from our lab on group interpersonal psychotherapy, we are proposing to study two different types of interpersonal psychotherapy groups and their effects on prenatally depressed women. Our pilot data suggested that the primary topic of discussion related to spouse/significant other relationships, so we expect that groups that include the depressed women as well as their significant others may be more effective than groups of depressed women alone.120 depressed pregnant women (major depression and dysthymia) will be randomly assigned to 3 conditions including: 1) couples' groups of the women and their significant others; 2) women only groups; and 3) a comparison control group. Each therapy group will receive 12 sessions of interpersonal group psychotherapy. These sessions will start at the first prenatal visit (mean= 20 weeks gestation) and continue for 12 weeks when the women begin to deliver. The sessions will be conducted by psychologists trained and experienced with group interpersonal psychotherapy. They will cover typical interpersonal therapy issues including interpersonal problems and role transitions as well as problems specific to pregnancy. The outcome variables will include: 1) self-report measures on depression (CES-D), anxiety (STAI), and relationships with significant others (Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale); 2) behavioral measures including positive affect, relatedness and problem-solving coded from the videotaped sessions; 3) physiological measures associated with depression including low vagal activity and greater relative right frontal EEG asymmetry; 4) biochemical measures associated with depression including low serotonin and high cortisol levels; 5) pregnancy outcomes including postpartum depression and relationship ratings; and 6) neonatal outcomes associated with prenatal depression including prematurity and low birthweight. Positive effects are expected for this cost-effective form of therapy and particularly for couples' group interpersonal psychotherapy.
Abstracts and/or Publications Resulting from the Project: