Our Mothers & Babies (MB) intervention—a postpartum depression prevention intervention for use in home visiting programs and programs that provide services for pregnant women, and families with children between ages 0 to 5 —is being increasingly sought out to enable programs to address anxiety and depression among pregnant women and new mothers. As MB continues to be scaled up throughout the United States we are interested in continually evaluating its effectiveness and implementation. Specifically, we will collect data at program, provider, and client levels in order to assess intervention acceptability, intervention fidelity, and client mental health outcomes. Health workers (with or without clinical mental health training) implementing MB with their families will be eligible to participate in the surveys.
A Note to Researchers: We welcome the use of the Mothers & Babies curriculum by researchers interested in promoting maternal mental health, parent-child interaction, and child development and behavior. If you are a researcher interested in using the Mothers and Babies curriculum, please contact us. Currently, there is no cost associated with obtaining or using the Mothers & Babies intervention materials. However, those using the MB intervention are encouraged to collect data using the instruments linked below.
At minimum, we recommend
| Assessment Tool & Outcome Measured | Pre-Implementation | Post-Implementation |
| SERVICE PROVIDER ASSESSMENTS (5-10 Minutes) | ||
| Service Provider Demographics | X | |
| Implementation Fidelity (MB Group, MB 1-on-1) (Completed after each session) Perceived self-efficacy in delivering MB (Completed after full MB Course delivery) | X X | |
| CLIENT ASSESSMENTS (5-10 minutes) | ||
| Client Demographics Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale or Patient Health Questionnaire | X X X | X X |
| MB Acceptability to Client: Understanding & Enjoyment of MB Content, Perceived Helpfulness & Frequency of MB Skills Use (Completed after full MB Course) Participant Feedback Form in English or Spanish (Completed after each session/periodically throughout MB Course) | X
X | |
Programs have the option to include additional assessments to evaluate client outcomes based on programmatic or participant-level goals. Assessments can take a minimum of 10 minutes to a maximum of 60 minutes. The complete list of optional assessments related to client outcomes as well as parenting/infant outcomes is provided below. The first 4 assessments (behavioral activation, mood regulation, social support, decentering) are most closely related to the Mothers & Babies constructs where we would expect to see change/improvement.
| Outcome Indicator | Assessment Tool | Description | Pre- and Post-Implementation |
| Behavioral Activation | Behavioral Activation Depression Scale | 9-item self-report measures changes in avoidance and activation behaviors | X |
| Mood Regulation | Negative Mood Regulation Scale | This 30-item self-report scale measures behaviors and cognitions during times when the subject is upset | X |
| Social Support | Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Scale | 19 item self-report scale designed to measure social support in 4 domains: emotional/informational, tangible, affectionate, and positive social interaction | X |
| Decentering | Experiences Questionnaire | 20 item self-report scale designed to measure decentering and rumination | X |
| Stress | Perceived Stress Scale-10-items | This 10-item self-report scale measures the degree to which situations in one’s life are perceived as stressful. A validated 4-item scale is also available (above) | |
| Pleasant Activities | Pleasant Events Schedule | 22 questions from this 320-item scale evaluate the frequency of occurrence and subjective enjoyability of a number of commonly rewarding events | X |
| Relationship with Partner | Dyadic Adjustment Scale | 7 questions from this 32-item scale measure consensus in decision-making, satisfaction in relationship, and cohesion | X |
| Subjective Well-Being | Flourishing Scale | 8-item self-report measure of self-perceived success in areas such as relationships, self-esteem, purpose, and optimism | X |
| Anxiety | Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item Scale (GAD-7) | A 7-item self-report measure of anxiety symptoms | X |
| Emotional Distress | PROMIS Emotional Distress-Anger | X | |
| Trauma | Psychometric Assessment of the Postpartum Depression Predictors Inventory-Revised | Composed of 10 prenatal risk factors for postpartum depression, measured by 32 items | X |
| Other Commonly Used Depression Symptom Measures | Beck Depression Inventory (Recommended) | 21-item self-report measure of depressive symptoms | X |
| Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale | 20-item self-report measure of depressive symptoms | X | |
| Patient Health Questionnaire-9 | 9-item self-report measure of depressive symptoms, reflective of 9 core symptoms of major depression. | X | |
| Patient Health Questionnaire-2 | 2-item self-report measure of depressive symptoms (depressed mood and loss of interest) | X | |
| Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology | 16-item self-report measure of depressive symptoms | X |
| Outcome Indicator | Assessment Tool | Description | *Pre-/Post-Implementation |
| Parenting Behavior | Parental Cognitions and Conduct Toward the Infant Scale | This 31-item self-report measure assesses 4 parenting dimensions: parental self-efficacy, perceived parental impact, parental hostile-reactive behaviors, and parental overprotection | X |
| (in-person observation) | Parenting Interactions with Children: Checklist of Observations Linked to Outcomes (PICCOLO) | The PICCOLO is a checklist of 29 observable developmentally supportive parenting behaviors with children ages 10–47 months in four domains. | X |
| Child Temperament | Infant Characteristics Questionnaire | This 9-item self-report measures parent perceptions of infant temperament | X |
| Infant Social and Emotional Health | In-depth analysis of emerging social-emotional development and intervention guidance 17 subscales address four domains 166-item Parent Form and Child Care Provider Form | X | |
| Infant Development |
| Ages & Stages Questionnaires, Third Edition (ASQ-3) is a developmental screening tool designed for use by early educators and health care professionals. It relies on parents as experts, is easy-to-use, family-friendly and creates the snapshot needed to catch delays and celebrate milestones. | X |
| Pre and post tests may be used with postpartum clients. If clients are enrolled prenatally, then post-test only. |
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