Parents and Babies Pilot (PAB Pilot)

May 19, 2026 updated by: Leiszle Rae Lapping-Carr, Northwestern University

Parents and Babies: Pilot Testing an Inclusive Preventive Postpartum Depression Intervention

The goal of this study will be piloting the Parents and Babies perinatal depression prevention intervention to examine its feasibility and acceptability and to obtain preliminary data on its efficacy. This includes exploring/understanding users' experiences navigating the interventions (e.g., from an implementation perspective) and preliminary evaluations of clinical outcomes, including mental health and minority stress. With data gathered from this pilot study, we will make final adaptations to the Parents and Babies manuals and plan to develop a randomized-control trial to evaluate efficacy of the intervention.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

16

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

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

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • self-identify as LGBTQ+
  • 18 years old or older
  • live in the USA or territories
  • speak and understand English
  • Currently pregnant or within one year of childbirth
  • Endorse current mild depressive symptoms or risk factors for postpartum depression

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Are unable to consent/have impaired decision making capacity
  • Have current active suicidal or homicidal ideation, active psychosis, or current mania
  • Are currently experiencing a severe depressive episode
  • Do not have audio and/or video capacity for attending group sessions remotely.

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: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Virtual Group
Sessions will be delivered virtually. Includes participants from across the US.
Behavioral: Parents and Babies
Parents and Babies is a 10-session intervention adapted from Mothers and Babies, a nationally recognized intervention for depression during pregnancy and postpartum built on principles of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), attachment theory, and psychoeducation.
Experimental: Hybrid Group
Sessions will be delivered virtually with three hybrid sessions with options for in-person attendance. Includes only participants located in the Chicagoland area.
Behavioral: Parents and Babies
Parents and Babies is a 10-session intervention adapted from Mothers and Babies, a nationally recognized intervention for depression during pregnancy and postpartum built on principles of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), attachment theory, and psychoeducation.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 (PHQ-9)
Time Frame: T1 (prior to starting intervention), T2 (immediately post-intervention), T3 (3 months post-intervention)
The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 is the 9 item depression module of the Patient Health Questionnaire. It scores each of the 9 DSM-IV criteria as "0" (not at all) to "3" (nearly every day).
T1 (prior to starting intervention), T2 (immediately post-intervention), T3 (3 months post-intervention)
Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10)
Time Frame: T1 (prior to starting intervention), T2 (immediately post-intervention), T3 (3 months post-intervention)
The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10; Cohen, Kamarch, & Mermelstein,1983) is a 10 item measure of the degree to which situations in one's life are appraised as stressful with responses rated on a 5-point Likert scale (0 =never to 4 =very often).
T1 (prior to starting intervention), T2 (immediately post-intervention), T3 (3 months post-intervention)
Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7)
Time Frame: T1 (prior to starting intervention), T2 (immediately post-intervention), T3 (3 months post-intervention)
The Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (Spitzer et.al, 2006) is a 7 item self-report measure used to assess anxiety. Participants are queried regarding symptoms during the past two weeks and responses are tallied on a four-point Likert scale.
T1 (prior to starting intervention), T2 (immediately post-intervention), T3 (3 months post-intervention)
Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS)
Time Frame: T1 (prior to starting intervention), T2 (immediately post-intervention), T3 (3 months post-intervention)
The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (Zimet et al. 1988) is a 12-item measure of perceived adequacy of social support from three sources: family, friends, & significant other; using a 5-point Likert scale (0 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree).
T1 (prior to starting intervention), T2 (immediately post-intervention), T3 (3 months post-intervention)
Participant perceptions of the intervention
Time Frame: T2 (immediately post-intervention)
The Acceptability of Intervention Measure (AIM), Intervention Appropriateness Measure (IAM), and Feasibility of Intervention Measure (Weiner et al., 2017) are four-item measures of implementation outcomes to determine the extent to which one believes an intervention is acceptable, appropriate, and feasible.
T2 (immediately post-intervention)
Implementation of Parents and Babies skills
Time Frame: T2 (immediately post-intervention), T3 (3-months post-intervention)
Parents and Babies Skill Utilization Survey - 8 item questionnaire to determine the extent to which one agrees that the PAB course taught skills related to the core modules, was useful, and was easy to understand; using a 5-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree).
T2 (immediately post-intervention), T3 (3-months post-intervention)

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)

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 (Estimated)

June 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

April 1, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

April 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 19, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 19, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

May 26, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 26, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 19, 2026

Last Verified

May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • STU00225523
  • 5K23MD018092-03 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

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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