SUpporting Mothers’ Mental health with Interpersonal Therapy: A large multi-site study evaluating the impact of Group Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) In Lebanon and Kenya (SUMMIT)

What is this study about?

Depression is the most common mental health issue affecting women of childbearing age. 20%-25% of women in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) experience depression during pregnancy or shortly after childbirth. This can be very distressing and affects not only the mother but also her child.

Women with depression often struggle to respond to their children’s needs. Research shows that as a result of this children of women with postnatal depression (PND) have poorer learning, or cognitive development, and more emotional and behaviour problems as they grow up. This is especially true in LMICs, where families may also be struggling with many other challenges that can affect children’s development negatively. Many women in LMICs have very little contact with healthcare services, so antenatal services can be a key opportunity to reach women in need of mental health support. However, currently treatment for PND is rarely available in many LMICs.

The World Health Organisation recommends a therapy called interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) to treat depression. There is research from high-income countries showing that IPT and group-IPT (g-IPT) is an effective treatment for PND, but it is not known whether it works in an LMIC context, or whether it also benefits child development. This study aims to explore the feasibility of conducting a randomised controlled trial to study the effectiveness of g-IPT in two LMIC for women with PND.

The study consists of two phases: feasibility study and a large-scale randomised control trial. Teams in Kenya and Lebanon will work with the team in the United Kingdom to explore the community and cultural vue on maternal depression, and how to access help may be affected by local factors. A culturally adapted version of g-IPT will then be developed to be delivered to mothers in both countries.

The feasibility study portion of the trial will involve a Randomised Control Trial (RCT) comparing the effects of g-IPT to those of High Quality - Standard Care (HQ-SC). Participants will be randomly assigned to receive either g-IPT or HQ-SC. Participants in the g-IPT arm of the trial will undergo an 8-session WHO-endorsed therapy, with each session lasting 90 minutes. Participants in the HQ-SC arm will receive an illustrated guided self-help manual, delivered over 2 sessions, focused on stress management and coping with adversity. Following the feasibility study, the protocol will be scaled up to large scale randomised control trial across multiple sites in both countries.

Contact

��Dr Elizabeth Simes e.simes@ucl.ac.uk

Sponsor

University College London (UCL)

Funder

National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation (RIGHT) programme

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