Guide to Effective Programs
for Children and Youth

Parent-Education Group for Families Affected by Depression

OVERVIEW

The goal of Parent-Education Group for Families Affected by Depression is to reduce parents’ depressive symptoms, which, is expected to reduce the negative impact of depression on parenting. Parents participated in group sessions where they discussed their experiences with depression, watching videos of difficult parenting situations, learned about depressive symptoms, and received a homework assignment. In this evaluation, the experimental group parents showed a significant improvement in family functioning and experimental group children significantly increased school functioning. Mildly significant impacts were found for measures of family conflict, parent conflict, and sense of parenting competence. No significant impacts were found for parent’s knowledge of depression, parenting practices, or depressive symptoms. For child outcomes, there were no significant impacts for competence in sports and arts, participation in sports and arts, participation in out-of-school activities with adult leadership, peer relationships, and child depressive symptoms.

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM

Target population: Parents with depression and their children

Parent-Education Group for Families Affected by Depression consists of eight weekly two-hour sessions of parent groups sharing experiences, watching videos of difficult parenting situations, discussing depression, and receiving a homework assignment. Sessions are led by trained health service workers. Sessions were aimed at reducing depression’s negative impact on parenting.

EVALUATION(S) OF PROGRAM

Sanford, M., Byrne, C., Williams, S., Atley, S., Ridley, T., Miller, J., & Allin, H. (2003). A pilot study of a parent-education group for families affected by depression. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 48(2), 78-86.

Evaluated population: 44 parents with a child aged 6 to 13 were recruited from adult psychiatry services and family doctors in Hamilton-Wentworth, Ontario, Canada. Parents in the study had a clinical diagnosis of major depressive disorder in the previous 12 months and were currently under medical care for depression. The mean age of parents was 41 and the mean age of the child was 10. Thirty-three percent of parents were single.

Approach: Parents in the study were randomly assigned to an experimental parent group or a wait-list control group. The experimental group treatment was designed to increase knowledge of depression and its impact on their family, spousal support, positive communication, and positive parenting strategies. This was done through social-learning theory, parent-education theory, and family-systems theory. Eight to twelve parent participants (alone or with a family member) attended eight weekly two-hour sessions. The sessions included socialization with others, a review of the previous session, sharing of information, watching videos of difficult parenting situations, a summary, and a homework assignment. Each session had a specific focus regarding elements of parental depression and parenting. The sessions were led by health service workers who received two half-days of training on adherence to the manual.

Outcomes measured at pre- and post-test and at a three-month follow-up were knowledge of depression, parenting practices, sense of parenting competence, family relationships and functioning, and depressive symptoms. Child outcomes measured were competence in sports and arts, participation in sports and arts, participation in out-of-school activities with adult leadership, school functioning, peer relationships, and child depressive symptoms.

Results: 27 percent of the sample did not complete the post-test, so results are based on 32 cases. At post-test, the experimental group showed a significant difference in family functioning when compared with the control group (effect size = 0.6). Comparing the two groups, on the measures of family conflict, parent conflict, sense of parenting competence were borderline significant. There were no significant impacts, however, on knowledge of depression, parenting practices, or depressive symptoms.

Among the children of parents in the evaluation, only school functioning showed a significant difference between experimental and control groups. Competence in sports and arts, participation in sports and arts, participation in out-of-school activities with adult leadership, peer relationships, and child depressive symptoms showed no significant differences between groups.

Three-month follow-up analyses were not reported because, by this time, 43 percent of the sample had dropped out. The authors note that attrition was higher among more depressed participants in the treatment group, a difference that could raise the probability of finding positive impacts.

SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION

Contact information:

Dr. M. Sanford

Child Psychiatry Program

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

250 College Street

Toronto, ON, Canada M5T 1R8

References

KEYWORDS: Middle Childhood (6-11), Clinic-based, Children (3-11), Adolescents (12-17), Depression, School Engagement, Social/Emotional Health

Program information last updated 11/7/11