Abstract

This study is intend to test the longitudinal effect of a postpartum depression (PD) intervention counseling program designed both for husbands to improve mothers PD and for selected mothers (DP score≥13 and participants of KDCPA's cohort study). Husbands were divided into treatment (n=6) and control (n=8) groups. Mothers' PD, marital satisfaction (MS), mother-child interaction, unstructured interaction, patemal depression, anxiety, parental efficacy, and job stress were measured five times: before the intervention, after the intervention, one month after the intervention, the child=12 months, and the child=24 months. The two groups differed significantly in all variables. Mothers' PD, mother-child interaction, and unstructured interaction were consistently effective. Mother-child interaction, PD, and mothers' MS had the largest effects. and the program was more effective for mothers than fathers. This study is the first attempt to test the longitudinal effect of a short-term PD intervention counseling program for husbands.