# African-American Social Support Effectiveness Treatment- Partners Alleviating Perinatal Depression (ASSET-PPD)

> **NIH NIH R21** · NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $245,852

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
 This Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Program (R21) addresses perinatal depression in African-
American (AA) women. AA mothers have a higher risk for perinatal depression than Caucasian women that is
attributable to increased socio-environmental stressors. AA women have poor healthcare utilization and
compliance with psychiatric treatment compared to Caucasian women. An intervention is required to
supplement and support the clinical objectives of the mother’s depression care without requiring the mother’s
direct involvement. Fathers are an underutilized resource to reduce the mother’s environmental stress and
encourage healthy maternal behaviors. The PI will test the African-American Social Support Effectiveness
Treatment- Partners alleviating Perinatal Depression (ASSET-PPD) protocol, a supplemental intervention to
maternal perinatal psychiatric treatment. ASSET-PPD will target the fathers’ support of the mothers’ mental
health treatment and their active engagement in the family to reduce maternal stress.
 The ASSET-PPD intervention will be designed to have 4 active modules that address key factors to reduce
maternal stress during the prenatal period and 2 postpartum review sessions. ASSET-PPD is designed as
individual sessions. The intervention is based on the theoretical models of the stress-generation and cognitive-
behavior theories. The modules will be individual sessions constructed to provide training, information, and
behavioral assignments to increase fathers’: 1) prenatal and postpartum family involvement; 2) mental health
psychoeducation; 3) interparental communication and relationship skills; and 4) balanced division of family
tasks. A post-intervention focus group of mothers and fathers will inform the PI of the utility and acceptability of
the intervention. In addition, a panel of subject matter experts will be part of an external advisory board to
provide feedback on the intervention development. The finalization of the manual will be executed based on
the intervention’s performance, and the focus groups’ and advisory board’s feedback.
 ASSET-PPD will be evaluated in a pilot RCT with 50 cohabitating fathers and AA mothers who will be
randomized into the ASSET-PPD intervention or the comparator group. Fathers only will participate in the
intervention, and mothers and fathers will complete measures of mental health and parental experiences.
Maternal depressive symptoms will be assessed as a primary outcome, and breastfeeding and parent-infant
interactions will be assessed as secondary outcomes to inform the utility of the selected measures for a future
large-scale RCT. The objective of this protocol is to: 1) assess the acceptability of the intervention to couples;
2) determine the recruitment rate; 3) evaluate the utility of each module’s key components; 4) assess the
adequacy of each measure to evaluate the outcomes targeted by the interventions; and 5) determine whether
the pilot data warrant a l...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10248553
- **Project number:** 5R21MD014798-02
- **Recipient organization:** NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Sheehan David Fisher
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $245,852
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-08-27 → 2023-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10248553

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10248553, African-American Social Support Effectiveness Treatment- Partners Alleviating Perinatal Depression (ASSET-PPD) (5R21MD014798-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10248553. Licensed CC0.

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