Effects of Structural Family Therapy on Child and Maternal Mental Health Symptomatology

Abstract

Objective: This pilot study examined the effect of structural family therapy (SFT) on children’s impairment and depressive symptomatology and mothers’ depressive symptomatology and anxiety for 31 families served by a community mental health clinic. Method: A one group predesign/postdesign, with a baseline and two follow-up time points, was used. Results: A series of repeated measures analyses of variance showed significant improvement for mothers’ depression, F(2, 36) = 6.93, p = .003, η2 = .278, and anxiety, F(2, 34) = 6.44, p = .004, η2 = .275. Mothers’ ratings of their children’s impairment significantly improved, F(2, 42) = 6.27, p = .005, η2 = .270, though children’s self-rated impairment and depressive symptomatology did not change. Results were confirmed using random regression analyses. Conclusion: SFT has promise for simultaneously addressing mothers’ and children’s needs in community mental health settings. However, structural barriers impacting feasibility were identified and discussed.