Date of Award
2022
Document Type
Doctoral Research Paper
Degree Name
Psy.D.
Organizational Unit
Graduate School of Professional Psychology
First Advisor
Kelly Elliott
Second Advisor
Tracy Vozar
Third Advisor
Galena Rhoades
Fourth Advisor
Shelly Smith Acuña
Keywords
Postpartum depression, Parenting self-efficacy, Interpersonal psychotherapy
Abstract
Postpartum depression (PPD) is a common and concerning mental health condition. Many prevention programs and interventions have been researched to prevent or alleviate symptoms of postpartum depression. The current study aimed to examine the effects of a psychoeducational PPD prevention program (ROSE), administered in the early postpartum period, on reported PPD symptoms and parenting self-efficacy beliefs in both English and Spanish speaking women. The study investigated the hypotheses that: a PPD prevention program which has been validated in the prenatal period would be efficacious in reducing depressive symptoms when administered postpartum; the PPD prevention program would improve parenting self-efficacy; and the program would have differential effects when administered to English and to Spanish speaking women. Women (n=140) in English (n=98) and Spanish (n=42) speaking cohorts completed pre and post surveys evaluating depression symptoms and parenting self-efficacy beliefs. Dependent-samples t-tests demonstrated that the program was effective in reducing depressive symptoms and clinically significant levels of depression but did not significantly improve parenting self-efficacy. A mixed ANOVA demonstrated that language of instruction did not significantly interact with depression or parenting self-efficacy, but Spanish-speaking participants had significantly lower levels of depression than their English-speaking counterparts. This study suggests that the ROSE program is effective at preventing or reducing symptoms of postpartum depression but does not have significant effects on parenting self-efficacy beliefs, and that Spanish-speaking women may experience or report lower levels of depression. The importance of providing interventions in the postpartum period and of considering language of instruction and culture of participants are explored further.
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
Extent
61 pgs
Recommended Citation
Flanagan, Erin, "La Luz: Illuminating the Effects of Language and Considering the Role of Culture in a Postpartum Depression Prevention Program for Spanish- and English-Speaking Mothers" (2022). Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects. 481.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/capstone_masters/481