Depression during pregnancy has adverse consequences for mother, fetus, and spouse/partner. Although poor partner support is a key risk factor for depression in perinatal women, past research has not included partners in treatment beyond psychoeducation. This Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (K23) application describes the training program, career plan in psychotherapy development, and program of research for Anna R. Brandon, Ph.D. The candidate proposes to develop and test an innovative psychotherapy, """"""""Partner-Assisted Therapy (PAT),"""""""" in a sample of depressed antenatal women. PAT is a hybrid of two existing treatments for depression, Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) and Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFCT), which includes the partner as an active participant in eight acute psychotherapy sessions during pregnancy and one postpartum refresher session. The K23 award will allow the candidate to develop and test a psychotherapy distinctly fitted to the needs of both English- and Spanish-speaking perinatal women and their families during the transition to parenthood. The training and research activities described in the application will occur in the interdisciplinary environment of Parkland Health and Hospital System, the Women's Mental Health Center, the Department of Psychiatry, and the Division of Psychology at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. During the K23 award period, Dr. Brandon will delineate PAT techniques, write the treatment manual, and increase her Spanish-language fluency to include the medical and psychological vocabulary necessary for work with the underserved Hispanic antenatal population at Parkland. Dr. Brandon will also earn credentials in the parent psychotherapies (IPT and EFCT) and develop a training and supervision program for IPT and PAT protocol therapists. As part of the K23, she will conduct an open-series feasibility trial of PAT, refining the manual through collaboration and iteration. Finally, she will recruit four psychotherapists (two bilingual) and develop their expertise for a PAT test of efficacy. These activities will culminate in an investigator-initiated R34 application for a pilot trial of PAT with English- and Spanish-speaking participants.
| Meltzer-Brody, Samantha; Brandon, Anna R; Pearson, Brenda et al. (2014) Evaluating the clinical effectiveness of a specialized perinatal psychiatry inpatient unit. Arch Womens Ment Health 17:107-13 |
| Eirin, Alfonso; Zhang, Xin; Zhu, Xiang-Yang et al. (2014) Renal vein cytokine release as an index of renal parenchymal inflammation in chronic experimental renal artery stenosis. Nephrol Dial Transplant 29:274-82 |
| Brandon, Anna R; Minhajuddin, Abu; Thase, Michael E et al. (2013) Impact of reproductive status and age on response of depressed women to cognitive therapy. J Womens Health (Larchmt) 22:58-66 |
| Brandon, Anna R; Ceccotti, Nadia; Hynan, Linda S et al. (2012) Proof of concept: Partner-Assisted Interpersonal Psychotherapy for perinatal depression. Arch Womens Ment Health 15:469-80 |
| Shivakumar, Geetha; Brandon, Anna R; Snell, Peter G et al. (2011) Antenatal depression: a rationale for studying exercise. Depress Anxiety 28:234-42 |
| McClintock, Shawn M; Brandon, Anna R; Husain, Mustafa M et al. (2011) A systematic review of the combined use of electroconvulsive therapy and psychotherapy for depression. J ECT 27:236-43 |
| Brandon, Anna R; Freeman, Marlene P (2011) When she says ""no"" to medication: psychotherapy for antepartum depression. Curr Psychiatry Rep 13:459-66 |
| Brandon, Anna R; Shivakumar, Geetha; Lee, Simon Craddock et al. (2009) Ethical issues in perinatal mental health research. Curr Opin Psychiatry 22:601-6 |
| Brandon, Anna R; Shivakumar, Geetha; Inrig, Stephen J et al. (2009) The cost of restricting knowledge. J Clin Psychiatry 70:1320-1 |
