Treating maternal mental health problems with an app-based program: A randomized control trial of the Building Emotional Awareness and Mental Health (BEAM) program, for mothers of young children.

Objectives: Exposure to maternal mental illness in the first 3 years of life is associated with poor child outcomes.Many mothers experience mental health problems and few have access to evidence-based treatments.Mobile health treatments show promise for mood and anxiety disorders but rarely include parenting strategies.This study evaluated the efficacy of Building Emotional Awareness and Mental Health (BEAM), a 10-week appbased therapist-guided program, which responds to maternal mental health and parenting needs.Method: A two-arm, Phase III randomized controlled trial was conducted to evaluate the BEAM intervention compared to unrestricted services-as-usual.Participants completed self-report measures at eligibility, prior to randomization, and immediately following the intervention.The sample included 140 mothers with children aged 18-36 months, who self-reported moderate-to-severe symptoms of depression and/or anxiety.Results: Participants in both groups experienced significant decreases in depression over time with no significant difference between groups.However, BEAM outperformed the unrestricted services-as-usual condition in reducing anxiety symptoms.Among participants with higher levels of anxiety and depression symptoms at screening, those assigned to BEAM experienced greater reductions in anxiety, anger, and dysfunctional parenting interactions as well as lower harsh parenting composite scores compared to unrestricted services-as-usual.Conclusion: BEAM is a highly scalable intervention that has the potential to rapidly reach underserved groups in need of mental health and parenting support.Next steps include improving the user interface and exploring engagement and implementation of the program within existing health and social service systems for long-term improvements in family health and well-being. What is the public health significance of this article?The present study provides evidence for a therapist-guided mobile health intervention Building Emotional Awareness and Mental Health that reduces anxiety, anger, and harsh parenting behaviors among mothers of toddlers with elevated mental health symptoms.The Building Emotional Awareness and Mental Health program addresses both maternal mental health and parenting needs.Building Emotional Awareness and Mental Health offers a scalable and accessible solution that may help mitigate intergenerational impacts of early-life adversity by improving maternal well-being and parenting practices.