Development, Feasibility and Acceptability of Fathers and Babies (FAB): A Pilot Study

July 8, 2022 updated by: Darius Tandon, Northwestern University

Integrating Text Messages Into the Mothers and Babies Course to Address Depression in Low-Income Women and Their Partners

During this project the investigators will develop and pilot test a companion intervention for fathers (Fathers and Babies-FAB), to supplement the Mothers and Babies Course (MB) that provides stress and mood management tools for home visiting clients. Focus groups with prior study participants, their male partners, and home visiting staff will be used to develop the FAB curriculum and protocol. FAB text messages aim to improve the mental health of the male partner and help him support his partner's mental health. Feasibility, acceptability, and outcome measures will be supplemented with assessments of fathers' mental health and partners' relationships. Participant assessments will be conducted at baseline, 3 and 6 months in this uncontrolled pilot study. The public health significance and innovation of this project is substantial. If the investigators are able to integrate MB-TXT and MB-DAD into home visiting programs and generate improved mental health outcomes for home visiting clients and their partners, the investigators will be prepared to replicate this intervention across home visiting programs nationally at a time when home visitation as a service delivery model for families with infants and young children is rapidly proliferating through federal funding.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Enhancements to Mothers and Babies are warranted to address the mental health of both parents, via the home visitation service delivery model where many of the most at-risk families enter into provider-client relationships during their child's infancy and early childhood.

Previous postpartum depression preventive interventions-including MB-have neglected to intervene with partners of pregnant women, despite the growing recognition that paternal depression also exerts influence on children's social-emotional development and occurs in a similar time-frame. Thus, in an otherwise successful intervention, these limitations-mixed success in improving hypothesized intervention mechanisms and limited engagement of fathers-may mitigate intervention efficacy. Paternal depression is hypothesized to mediate the relationship between MB modules and maternal mental health outcomes.

This study addresses this limitation. The investigators will collaborate with 10-12 home visiting (HV) programs serving primarily low-income families. The investigators will recruit 24 mother-father dyads for an uncontrolled pilot in which mothers will receive MB-TXT and fathers will receive FAB, a pilot curriculum developed using existing materials and data collected via qualitative research with home visiting clients, their partners, and home visiting staff.

Aim 1. To develop and determine the feasibility and acceptability of a) conducting the MB-DAD intervention protocol and b) assessing paternal and dyadic outcomes across two home visiting programs. Focus groups with prior trial participants, their male partners, and home visiting staff will generate information on a) intervention content, b) frequency of contact, and c) relationship to MB materials received by their partner.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

60

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Illinois
      • Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60611
        • Northwestern University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

14 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

English-speaking women >18 years old enrolled in home visiting programs who are in their 1st or 2nd or 3rd Trimester will be eligible for enrollment

Male partners of English-speaking women >18 years old enrolled in home visiting programs who are in their 1st or 2nd or 3rd Trimester will be eligible for enrollment

Note: Both parents/partners are required to participate in this study, not just one or the other.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: FAB Pilot Study (Father/Male Participants)

Fathers (male partners) received Fathers and Babies (FAB). FAB is a 12-session intervention with content that mirrors content found in MB, but was father-centric.

The initial FAB session was delivered in person or by phone by the home visitor working with the mother, and lasted 30 min on average. Subsequent sessions were delivered, in-person, via text message with embedded links to online content, or a mix of both in-person and text messages, depending on the preference and availability of the father. Fathers received three to six text messages per FAB session.
Behavioral: Fathers and Babies (FAB)
The initial FAB session was delivered in person or by phone by the home visitor working with the mother, and lasted 30 min on average. Subsequent sessions were delivered, in-person, via text message with embedded links to online content, or a mix of both in-person and text messages, depending on the preference and availability of the father. Fathers received three to six text messages per FAB session.
Experimental: MB 1-on-1 Plus TEXT (Mother/Female Participants)
Home visiting clients received the Mothers and Babies with -Text Messages intervention in person during regular scheduled home visits (i.e., MB 1-on-1 plus MB-TXT) while her partner received Fathers and Babies in parallel. MB 1-on-1 is 12-sessions and is a postpartum depression preventive intervention. MB includes an introductory module followed by three cognitive-behavioral therapy modules: (1) pleasant activities, (2) thoughts, and (3) contact with others. After each in person session home visiting clients receive three messages to reinforce skill practice and remind them about their personal projects.
Behavioral: MB 1-on-1 plus TXT
Home visiting clients received the Mothers and Babies with -Text Messages intervention in person during regular scheduled home visits (i.e., MB 1-on-1 plus MB-TXT). After each in person session home visiting clients receive three messages to reinforce skill practice and remind them about their personal projects.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Depressive Symptoms
Time Frame: Baseline and Post Intervention at 3 and 6 months

Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) (Beck et al., 1988). The BDI-II was used to assess severity of depressive symptoms consistent with DSM-IV symptom criteria. The BDI-II is a 21-item survey, each item asks respondents to indicate on a scale ranging from 0 to 3 the extent to which they endorse different symptoms of depression over the past two weeks with higher scores indicating greater depression severity, with the highest score of 63.

0-10-considered normal 11-16 Mild mood disturbance 17-20 Borderline clinical depression 21-30 Moderate depression 31-40 Severe depression Over 40 Extreme depression.
Baseline and Post Intervention at 3 and 6 months
Change in Anxiety
Time Frame: Baseline and Post Intervention at 3 and 6 months

Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item Scale (GAD-7) (Spitzer et al., 2006). The GAD-7 is a 7-item survey, each item asks respondents to indicate on a 4-point scale the extent to which they endorse different symptoms of anxiety over the past two weeks with higher scores indicating greater anxiety symptoms. The highest score is 21.

Score 0-4: Minimal Anxiety Score 5-9: Mild Anxiety Score 10-14: Moderate Anxiety Score greater than 15: Severe Anxiety
Baseline and Post Intervention at 3 and 6 months
Change in Perceived Stress
Time Frame: Baseline and Post Intervention at 3 and 6 months

Perceived Stress Scale 10-item Scale (PSS-10) (Cohen & Williamson, 1988). The PSS-10 is a 10-item survey that asks respondents to indicate on a 5-point scale the extent to which they appraised certain situations as stressful over the past month, with higher scores indicating greater perceived stress. Individual scores on the PSS can range from 0 to 40 with higher scores indicating higher perceived stress.

0-13 are considered low stress Scores ranging from 14-26 are considered moderate stress Scores ranging from 27-40 are considered high perceived stress
Baseline and Post Intervention at 3 and 6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Social Support Effectiveness
Time Frame: Baseline and Post Intervention at 3 and 6 months
Social Support Effectiveness Questionnaire (SSE-Q) (Rini et al., 2011). The SSE-Q is a 25-item survey that asks respondents to indicate the extent to which their partners provided different types of support in the past three months. The SSE-Q consists of subscales on task support, informational support, emotional support, and negative effects of support. For this study, we calculated a total social support score that summed these four subscales (range 0-80). High scores indicate more effective support. Full scale scores can range from 0 to 80, and each subscale can range from 0 to 20.
Baseline and Post Intervention at 3 and 6 months
Instrumental Social Support Support Survey (Cyranowski et al., 2013).
Time Frame: Baseline and Post Intervention at 3 and 6 months
The measure consists of 8 questions and asks respondents to indicate on a 5-point scale the extent to which they have received different types of instrumental support in the last month. Higher scores indicate greater support. We report on the count and percentage of individuals with high instrumental support at each time point.
Baseline and Post Intervention at 3 and 6 months
Emotional Support Support (Cyranowski et al., 2013)
Time Frame: Baseline and Post Intervention at 3 and 6 months
NIH Toolbox Emotional Support Support Survey. The survey consists of 8 questions and asks respondents to indicate on a 5-point scale the extent to which they have received different types of emotional support in the last month. Higher scores indicate greater support. We report on the count and percentage of individuals with high emotional support at each time point.
Baseline and Post Intervention at 3 and 6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Northwestern University

Collaborators

National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

February 15, 2018

Primary Completion (Actual)

September 4, 2020

Study Completion (Actual)

September 4, 2020

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 29, 2018

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 7, 2018

First Posted (Actual)

February 9, 2018

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

July 18, 2022

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 8, 2022

Last Verified

July 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • STU00203918-B
  • 1R21MD011320-01 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

No

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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