Objective: Children of depressed mothers are at risk of developing mental health problems. We sought to determine whether treatment for maternal depression delivered by community health workers (CHW) would decrease behavioral/emotional symptoms in their child. An intervention treating maternal depressive symptoms in a low-middle-income country can have a high global impact.
Methods: CHW were trained to deliver a psychosocial intervention for mothers with depression in a primary care setting. 49 mothers and 60 children were assessed pre-intervention, post-intervention, and at a 6-months follow-up. Child behavioral/emotional symptoms were evaluated by type of change in maternal depressive symptoms: remission and response.
Results: An overall decrease in maternal depressive symptoms from baseline to post-intervention and 6-month follow-up were found. Remission and response of maternal depression was associated with better outcomes related to child´s behavioral/emotional symptoms at the 6-month follow-up (p = 0.0247, Cohen's d: 0.76; p = 0.0224, Cohen's f: 0.44) but not at post-intervention (p = 0.1636, Cohen's d: 0.48; p = 0.0720, Cohen's f: 0.33).
Conclusion: Maternal depression improvement was related to their child's decreased behavioral/emotional symptoms. Our results suggest that interventions addressing maternal depression in primary care is a viable strategy to prevent behavioral/emotional symptoms in the next generation.
Keywords: Depressive disorder; child; developing countries; mental health; mothers.