27P
Social Support and Depression: An Evaluation of Motherwoman Peer Support Groups for Mothers with Postpartum Depression
Postpartum depression (PPD) affects 13% to 52% of mothers (Clark, Sword, Tluczek & Brown, 2008; Ugarriza, 2004) Demonstrated long-term negative outcomes of maternal depression on the physical and psychosocial health of the child (McCoy, et al, 2006) and safety behaviors of depressed mothers (McLearn, et al, 2006) affirmed the need for effective interventions for PPD. Strong evidence indicates that low social support is related to perinatal depression (O’Hara, 2009; Xie, et al, 2009).
This retrospective study of MotherWoman (MW) peer-led PPD support group participants examined the relationship between perceived social support and depression over time. Three distinct sources of perceived social support when measured systematically include: support from a significant other, family, and friends (Zimet, et al, 1988). Peer facilitators, trained by a social worker, led the MW PPD support groups. Grounded in feminist theory and informed by CBT, MW groups aimed to provide stigma-free, accepting structured space for postpartum women to share their authentic experience of mothering. Principles of safety, education and empowerment drove the model.
Methods: A cross-sectional Internet survey was used to collect data from 65 postpartum women who attended MW peer support groups and whose age at the time of the survey ranged from 20 to 63 years (M = 36.25 years, SD = 6.77 years) and 15 to 62 years (M = of 34.05 years, SD = 7.11 years) when they first attended demonstrating the passage of time. Instruments included the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 for Depression and the Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale to measure perceived social support from friends, family and significant other. Chronbach’s alphas were determined for each of the measures, paired samples t-tests and correlational analyses were conducted.
Results:
The instruments demonstrated moderate to strong reliability. Participants’ depression pre to post scores decreased significantly (t(54) = 7.09 p < .001). In addition, perceived social support from friends (t(52)= 6.17, p < .001), family (t(54) = 3.41, p = .001) and significant other (t(53) = 4.02, p < .001) each increased significantly. Depression pre-post change scores significantly correlated with the pre-post change scores for perceived social support from friends (r = .55, p < .01) and significant other (r = .58, p < .01) suggesting contribution of such perceived social support from friends and significant other to reduced depression.
Conclusion and Implications:
While retrospective and cross-sectional, these results suggest potential benefit of feminist oriented, CBT informed support groups led by social worker trained peer facilitators for postpartum women experiencing depression. The results suggest that perceived social support extended to friends and significant other showing possible benefits across relationships. These findings support further research in this under-researched yet critical area to social work mental health practice. Comparing MW peer support with standard of care (medication) could expand knowledge about the effectiveness of the MW peer support group model. Potentially exciting implications for social work practice aligned with the empowerment tradition of the profession, include the possibility that MW trained peer-led support groups for postpartum women could contribute to reduction of postpartum depression.