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CompletedNCT00835016LTPUpdated Oct 14, 2020

Early Psychosocial Stimulation Program for Children of Depressed Mothers

An interventional study of Early psychosocial stimulation (LTP) in Maternal Depression and Depression, sponsored by Pakistan Institute of Living and Learning. Completed at 1 site in Pakistan. Open to female participants aged 16 Years to 40 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2020-10-14.

Sponsored by Pakistan Institute of Living and Learning · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
260
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
16 Years to 40 Years
Sex
Female
01

Study summary

Aim:

To assess the feasibility of provision of an early psychosocial stimulation programme for the children of depressed mothers and to determine its effect on, mothers depression , mothers' knowledge and practices of childrearing and on children's development.

Hypothesis:

Primary hypothesis:

Mothers attending the psychosocial stimulation program will have significant improvement in the level of depression as compared to the mothers who are on the waiting list.

Secondary hypothesis:

Children of mothers having the intervention will have significantly better growth than the children of mothers who do not have the intervention.

Design:

Randomised controlled trial.

Setting:

An urban slum in a township in Karachi.

Participants:

A total of 130 randomly selected depressed mothers in the intervention group and a total of 130 mothers in the waiting list control group.

Interventions:

Weekly LTP groups for the first eight sessions and two fortnightly sessions. Parenting issues will be discussed with the mothers and play activities will be demonstrated with the children using LTP and homemade materials.

Main outcome measures:

Mothers scores on EPDS \& HAM D , Parenting stress as measured by PSI-SF and mothers' knowledge and practices of child rearing measured by questionnaires. Children's height, weight, head and arm circumference.

Read the detailed description

Research findings suggest that maternal depression affects infant development and growth through multiple processes. Disability due to depressive symptoms (such as fatigue, poor concentration, loss of interest) is likely to affect child-care abilities directly, while impaired social functioning is likely to have indirect consequences through lack of support in childcare. Disturbances in mother-infant relationship in depressed mothers (Cooper 1999) negatively influence the infant's development. The Community-Based Multimodal Psychosocial Intervention LTP has been designed to target these processes and include a supportive component, an educational component (nutritional and healthcare advice)and a parenting programme (Childs psychosocial development through mother-infant play providing stimulation, and support for exploration and autonomy for the infant (Rahman et 2008). The objective will be to help mothers feel supported, empowered and confident about their parenting abilities, and through this process positively influence their mood. Rather than the directive approach of the medical model, health workers will be trained to adopt a more patient-centered approach, tailoring the components according to individual needs of the patient.

Further qualitative testing of the intervention will take place, This will help us to further refine the intervention package, and understand the underlying mediators (maternal mood state, levels of social support, appropriate care, etc) and moderators (education, socioeconomic status) of intervention. Some or all of these important mediators/moderators will then be later studied in detail. Detailed documentation, protocol and training-programme development for the intervention will take place in this trial.

We plan to have this intervention delivered over a three months period. Initially we will deliver weekly sessions in the first 8 weeks of recruitment. This will be followed by two fortnightly sessions in the third month. Thus making a total of 10 sessions. Each session would take up to one hour. These group sessions will be carried out at the health centre.

The trial will give an opportunity to test if the proposed intensity and duration of the intervention are acceptable to participants and to set into place mechanisms to ensure a high level of consistency with which the intervention is delivered. Feedback of performance will give an idea of how frequently refresher training is to be provided and the intervention delivery monitored. Outcome measures for the main trial and cost-effectiveness will also be tested during this phase.

The proposed pilot trial design is a single-blind study, with two parallel groups randomised individually.

02

Conditions studied

  • Maternal Depression
  • Depression

Keywords

  • Early psychosocial stimulation, RCT, Depressed mother
03

In context

Depression

8,057 studies on the registry are indexed under Depression; 1,643 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 260 is above the median of 84 across 6,718 interventional studies indexed under Depression.

Browse Depression studies →

Lead sponsor

Pakistan Institute of Living and Learning is the lead sponsor of 59 studies on the registry; 17 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
16 Years to 40 Years
Sexes eligible
Female
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  • All Mothers of children aged between 6-30 months having maternal depression

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Subjects will not be included in the trial if they have a diagnosed medical condition or significant physical or learning disability, postpartum or other form of psychosis, or are currently under psychiatric care.
  • Mothers of children with any serious medical or psychiatric illness will also be excluded.
  • The age range of mothers for inclusion in the study will be 16 to 40 years, and all subjects should intend to stay in the study area for at least another 6 months.
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Single (Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
260 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Early psychosocial stimulation (LTP)

    The 10 session of Early psychosocial stimulation (LTP)will be delivered to depressed mothers in the intervention group

    Behavioral: Early psychosocial stimulation (LTP)

  • Active comparator
    Waiting group

    Waiting group will receive standard follow-up by their own LHWs. This group intervention will be documented at baseline, 3 months (end of the trial) and at 6 months. Similar training of Learning through Play will be provided to the mothers in this group at the end of the study.

    Behavioral: Early psychosocial stimulation (LTP)

Interventions

  • BehavioralEarly psychosocial stimulation (LTP)

    Learning through Play (LTP) groups will be conducted weekly for the first eight sessions and two fortnightly sessions. Parenting issues will be discussed with the mothers and play activities will be demonstrated with the children using LTP and home made materials.

    Also known as: Learning Through Play, Psychosocial Intervention for Maternal depression, Randomized Control Trial

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. The primary outcome measure will be mother's depression scores on EPDS.

    The EPDS is a 10-item symptoms scale for postnatal depression that has been validated in the Pakistani population. Higher scores indicate higher level of depression

    Time frame: change in scores from baseline to 3-month and 6month

Secondary outcomes

  1. Children's height

    Height measured in cm

    Time frame: change in scores from baseline to 3-month and 6-month

  2. Children's weight

    Weight measured in kgs

    Time frame: Change in scores from baseline to 3-month and 6-month

  3. Children's head circumference

    Measured in cm

    Time frame: Change in scores from baseline to 3-month and 6-month

  4. Children's arm circumference

    measured in cm

    Time frame: Change in scores from baseline to 3-month and 6-month

  5. mother's depression score on Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression HAMD

    HAMD was used to assess severity of depression, Higher score indicates higher level of dpression.

    Time frame: Change in scores from baseline to 3-month and 6-month

  6. Mother's scores on Parenting stress Index

    used to assess maternal stress in their role as a parent. Higher scores indicate higher level of stress.

    Time frame: Change in scores from Baseline to 3-month and 6-month

  7. mothers' scores on knowledge, attitude and and practices Questionnaire

    used to assess change in maternal knowledge, attitude and practices. Higher scores indicate higher level of knowledge about child development.

    Time frame: Change in scores from baseline to 6-month

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Community Setting
    Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Husain N, Zulqernain F, Carter LA, Chaudhry IB, Fatima B, Kiran T, Chaudhry N, Naeem S, Jafri F, Lunat F, Haq SU, Husain M, Roberts C, Naeem F, Rahman A. Treatment of maternal depression in urban slums of Karachi, Pakistan: A randomized controlled trial (RCT) of an integrated maternal psychological and early child development intervention. Asian J Psychiatr. 2017 Oct;29:63-70. doi: 10.1016/j.ajp.2017.03.010. Epub 2017 Mar 21. PubMed 29061430 ↗
09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Oct 14, 2020, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT00835016
Lead sponsor
Pakistan Institute of Living and Learning
Collaborators
The Hincks-Dellcrest Centre
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Feb 3, 2009
Start date
Feb 2009
Primary completion
Jul 2010
Completion
Jan 2011
Last update
Oct 14, 2020

Study contacts

Dr. Nusrat Husain
principal investigator · Pakistan Institute of Living and Learning

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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This study is completed, as verified in Aug 2019. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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