Bachpan Study of Maternal Depression and Child Development: Data from the First Three Years

The Bachpan (meaning “childhood” in Urdu) project is a pregnancy cohort with an embedded cluster-randomized control trial of a maternal depression intervention, the Thinking Healthy Program- Peer Delivered Plus (THPP+). This project takes place in rural Pakistan and includes extensive longitudinal measures of maternal health, child health, and family environment characteristics (e.g., socioeconomic status, interpersonal violence, parenting).

Participants included 1,154 mothers recruited during their third trimester of pregnancy. Mothers were screened for depression using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Those who screened positive for depression (PHQ score 10 or greater) were randomly assigned to receive the THPP+ (n = 283) or enhanced usual care (EUC; n = 287). Additionally, a sample of women who screened negative for depression were recruited (n = 584). Participants were followed from their third trimester of pregnancy through child age 36 months, with assessments at baseline (pregnancy), 3 months, 6 months, 12 months, 24 months, and 36 months postpartum (Turner et al., 2016; Sikander et al., 2019).

Results show variable effects of the THPP+ intervention at 36 months (Maselko, Sikander, et al., 2020; Sevim et al, 2023).  Additionally, observational work with this dataset has shown that there are many social and environmental factors, such as social support and socioeconomic status, that impact maternal and child health. A full list of publications from this study can be found at https://www.bachpanstudy.com/ Overall, findings suggest sustained impacts of the THPP+ intervention and point to the importance of long-term, multifaceted assessments of maternal and child well-being.