Longitudinal Perspectives of Caregiver Depression in a Home visiting PHN intervention with Asthmatic Children

Previous research has suggested that chronic illness in children is related to depressive symptoms in caregivers. The goal of this study was to examine the impact of a PHN home visiting intervention for asthmatic children on self reported depressive symptoms in a sample of 231 caregivers followed over a 12 month period of time.

Methods: 231 caregivers of children with persistent asthma in an ongoing trial were interviewed regarding depressive symptoms using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Score. The children were enrolled in an ongoing home based clinical trial and randomized into a standard asthma education or an enhanced education intervention focused on improving communication with healthcare providers and asthma outcomes.

Results: Children were primarily African American (92.6%), male (60.6%) and Medicaid insured (83%). 26.65% of the caregivers had scores of 16 or greater on the CESD at baseline. At 12 months, 193 caregivers completed the 12 month follow-up and 17.71% had scores of 16 or greater on the CESD. The trends in CESD changes overtime will be examined and supplemented with qualitative data examining the contextual events occurring within these families' lives.

Conclusions: A targeted home based education intervention has the potential of relieving depressive symptoms in caregivers. In this study, although there was no difference on CESD scores between those caregivers in the standard asthma education vs the enhanced education intervention groups, the prevalence of CESD symptoms decreased suggesting that PHN support overall may be a factor of importance.