Brief cognitive-behavioral intervention for maternal depression and trauma in the neonatal intensive care unit: A pilot study.

PARENTS of exceptional children; PREMATURE infants; PSYCHOLOGY of parents; DEPRESSION in parents; COGNITIVE therapy

Parents of hospitalized premature infants are at risk for developing psychological symptoms. This randomized controlled pilot study examined the effectiveness of a brief cognitive-behavioral intervention in reducing traumatic and depressive symptoms in mothers 1 month after their infant's discharge from the hospital. Fifty-six mothers were randomly assigned to the intervention or control group. Results showed that mothers experienced high levels of symptoms initially and at follow-up. At follow-up, there was a trend for mothers in the intervention group to report lower levels of depression ( p = .06; Cohen's f = .318), but levels of traumatic symptoms were similar for both groups. Brief psychological interventions may reduce depressive symptoms in this population. Estimates of the effect sizes can be used to inform future intervention studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Traumatic Stress is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)