PSYCHOLOGICAL OUTCOMES OF A SUPPORT INTERVENTION IN MOTHERS OF CHILDREN WITH ONGOING HEALTH CONDITIONS - THE PARENT-TO-PARENT NETWORK

We compared depression anxiety, anger; cognitive disturbance, and tota l scores on the Psychiatric Symptom Index (Ilfeld, 1976) for 365 mothe rs of 5-to-8 year-olds with diverse health conditions who were randomi zed either to an experimental (EG) or control (CG) group. EG mothers w ere offered a 12-month community- based support intervention CG mother s received standard care. Posttest scores of EG and CG mothers did not differ significantly. Although intervention effects were not related to participation level or illness-related and sociodemographic factors , a significant interaction with stressful life events (SLE) was found . Among mothers reporting more than five SLE in the past yea?; posttes t anxiety was lower in the EG than in the CG, but no difference was fo und between EG and CG mothers having less than five SLE. The intervent ion also acted as a moderator variable, with correlations of SLE and p osttest depression, anxiety and total symptoms significantly lower in the EG than CG. Possible explanations for these findings are discussed . (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.