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.Bachpan（乌尔都语意为“童年”）项目是一项妊娠队列研究，嵌入了一项针对孕产妇抑郁干预的整群随机对照试验——思维健康项目-同伴协助增强版（Thinking Healthy Program- Peer Delivered Plus, THPP+）。本项目在巴基斯坦农村地区开展，涵盖了孕产妇健康、儿童健康及家庭环境特征（如社会经济地位、人际暴力、养育行为）的大规模纵向测量指标。研究共纳入1154名于妊娠第三孕期招募的孕产妇。研究采用患者健康问卷9项版（Patient Health Questionnaire-9, PHQ-9）对受试者进行抑郁筛查：筛查结果呈阳性（PHQ得分≥10分）的孕产妇被随机分配至THPP+干预组（n=283）或强化常规照护组（enhanced usual care, EUC; n=287）；此外还招募了584名抑郁筛查结果呈阴性的女性。研究对象从妊娠第三孕期开始被追踪至儿童36月龄，评估时点包括基线（妊娠阶段）、产后3个月、6个月、12个月、24个月及36个月（Turner等，2016；Sikander等，2019）。研究结果显示，THPP+干预在儿童36月龄时的效应存在异质性（Maselko、Sikander等，2020；Sevim等，2023）。此外，基于该数据集开展的观察性研究表明，社会支持、社会经济地位等诸多社会与环境因素会对母婴健康产生影响。该研究的完整发表论文列表可通过https://www.bachpanstudy.com/查询。总体而言，研究结果提示THPP+干预具有持续效应，并凸显了对母婴福祉开展长期、多维度评估的重要性。