Evidence-based mental health promotion resource - health.vic.gov.au

36 Evidence-based mental health promotion resourceIntervention – Social supportSocial support is regarded as a ‘psychosocial intervention’, which is a general term forinterventions designed to modify behaviour and create supportive environments. Theseinterventions encompass every level, from individuals, the family, social network, theworkplace and the community, through to the population level (Glass 2000). Effectivesocial support interventions include parent training programs for improving maternalmental health (Barlow & Coren 2002) and home-based social support for sociallydisadvantaged mothers (Hodnett & Roberts 2004). Programs such as the multi-countryHome-Start program (Jane-Llopis et al. 2005) aim to increase family confidence andindependence, empower parents, and offer social support through time, friendshipand practical help by volunteers. The multi-country Community Mothers program(Jane-Llopis et al. 2005) focuses on health care, nutritional improvement and childdevelopment.Population group/settingThese programs target mothers of young children, young mothers and early parenthoodgenerally and vulnerable families in particular.Effectiveness• Home visiting by public health nurses or midwives, whether a stand-aloneintervention or part of a multiple intervention, reduces the risk of postnataldepression, improves parenting skills and mother–child interactions, and has animpact on child health priorities such as child abuse, child behaviour, oral health,infant mortality and injury, language and literacy, and parent mental health(Eagar et al. 2005).• Parent training programs are effective in promoting short term psychosocial healthoutcomes for mothers. Evaluations are not at the level of randomised controlledtrials, although long term follow-up of Home-Start families noted self-reported parentsatisfaction that the program made a positive difference to their lives. Significantdifferences between Home-Start families and comparison groups have not yetbeen found.• Randomised controlled evaluation of the Jamaican adaptation of the home visitingprogram showed a dose–response relationship between frequency of visits andcognitive development of the children (Jane-Llopis et al. 2005).• Peer or professional support programs for parents with mental illness have shownencouraging results in reducing stigma and assisting parent–child communicationabout mental illness. Depressive symptoms were reduced and family functioningwas improved (Eagar et al. 2005).