Mt. Hope Center receives $3.8 million

esearchers at the University's Mt. Hope Family Center have been awarded a $3.8 million federal grant to conduct an extensive five-year evaluation of how two different interventions can help clinically depressed, low-income mothers and the development of their infant children.

"Depression in parents is a significant public health problem," says Dante Cicchetti, director of the center and principal investigator on the National Institute of Mental Health grant.

"Although treatment for depression is widely available, too few parents receive intervention for their depression, especially among impoverished populations. This is especially devastating given the negative consequences of depression for the health and welfare of both parent and child."

Cicchetti, who is professor of psychology, psychiatry, and pediatrics and the Shirley Cox Kearns Professor of Psychology, will work with Sheree Toth, Mt. Hope associate director, and psychologist Fred Rogosch.

The grant will give psychologists the opportunity to closely examine two different therapies for those women and their babies. One would provide infant-parent psychotherapy, which is based on an attachment-theory informed model provided earlier at Mt. Hope, and the other is interpersonal psychotherapy.

Infant-parent psychotherapy was previously shown to be effective in fostering positive mother-child relationships and cognitive development in the offspring of depressed mothers from middle-income backgrounds. That intervention, however, did not decrease depression in mothers.

With the new funding, both therapies will be combined to determine whether treating maternal depression without intervention promotes positive child development.

"By providing a preventive intervention during the early years of a child's life, significant long-term savings--both with respect to human suffering and dollars expended by society--will be realized," Cicchetti adds.

Depression has been referred to as the most significant mental health risk for women of childbearing age. Women who are less educated and unemployed and who have young children are at a higher risk for depression, with prevalence rates reported as high as 80 percent. Depression in low-income caregivers, such as those receiving services at Mt. Hope Family Center, places children at even higher risk for maladaptive development as these youngsters struggle with living in poverty as well as with having a parent with a mental illness.

Founded in 1979, Mt. Hope Family Center conducts research in the area of developmental psychopathology and provides intervention directed toward fostering mental health in children and adults, preventing child abuse and neglect, and promoting positive relationships between parents and their children. The center is affiliated with the Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology.

Maintained by University Public Relations
Please send your comments and suggestions to:
Public Relations.