In a study lead by Ann R. Peden at the University of Kentucky and funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research and the National Institutes of Health, a group of low-income single mothers received a 6-week group intervention that assisted them in changing their thinking style. To do this, they learned thought stopping techniques and the use of affirmations. Women who received the cognitive-behavioral intervention reported fewer depressive symptoms and chronic stressors, and less negative thinking. These beneficial effects were maintained for six months.
"This study illustrates that cost-effective and easy to deliver nursing interventions can improve the mental health of low-income single mothers," Dr. Peden says. Depression is the most common mental illness in women occurring twice as often as in men. The prevalence of depression in mothers of young children is 35 to 66 percent.
Ann R. Peden, DSN, ARNP-CS is a professor of Nursing in the College of Nursing at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. She is also an adult Psychiatric-Mental Health Clinical Specialist certified by the American Nurses Credentialing Center and can be reached for questions and interviews at arpede01@uky.edu.
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Journal of Nursing Scholarship