2013/01/11 by Addie Weaver, Catherine G. Greeno, Steven C. Marcus +3
Medicine · Psychology · #Attachment and Relationship Dynamics #Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development #Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
paper · doi:10.1177/1049731512470492
openalex publication_date 2013/01/11 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25
Objective: This pilot study examined the effect of structural family therapy (SFT) on children’s impairment and depressive symptomatology and mothers’ depressive symptomatology and anxiety for 31 families served by a community mental health clinic. Method: A one group predesign/postdesign, with a baseline and two follow-up time points, was used. Results: A series of repeated measures analyses of variance showed significant improvement for mothers’ depression, F(2, 36) = 6.93, p = .003, η 2 = .278, and anxiety, F(2, 34) = 6.44, p = .004, η 2 = .275. Mothers’ ratings of their children’s impairment significantly improved, F(2, 42) = 6.27, p = .005, η 2 = .270, though children’s self-rated impairment and depressive symptomatology did not change. Results were confirmed using random regression analyses. Conclusion: SFT has promise for simultaneously addressing mothers’ and children’s needs in community mental health settings. However, structural barriers impacting feasibility were identified and discussed.