Promoting Healthy Child Development Through Support of Mothers With Depressive Symptoms: A Quality Improvement Initiative in Family Medicine Clinics

Abstract

Maternal depression negatively impacts parenting practices and child development. Many mothers of young children screen positive for depression in our clinics. The objective of this quality improvement initiative was to use the SQUIRE 2.0 framework to evaluate a quality improvement initiative that focused on the integration of a brief parenting intervention in two family medicine clinic’s routine depression screening. Patients who were caregivers of young children and who screened positive for depressive symptoms but did not endorse suicidality were invited to receive parenting tips via automated text, a few learning materials (e.g., books, blocks), and monthly support phone calls over a 5-month period. Though initially intended to include caregivers regardless of sex or identified gender, only caregivers who self-identified as females participated. Outcome measures included the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 and -9 (depression symptoms) and portions of the Family Map Inventories (parenting-practices). Sixty-two percent of participating patients completed pre- and postintervention surveys. Following intervention participation, patients’ depression symptoms significantly decreased and their self-reported positive parenting practices (e.g., use of routines, parent–child play, positive guidance) significantly increased. Leveraging technology to improve parenting practices and mental health among parents of young children expanded access to support services and was effective in our setting.