Internationally known in the field of health psychology, Deborah Da Costa’s research is now looking toward improving the transition to parenthood with mental health interventions
Dr Deborah Da Costa is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at McGill University, as well as a Scientist at the Centre for Outcomes Research & Evaluation at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre. She is particularly renowned for her research on reproductive mental health and digital mental health interventions.
Her research focuses on conducting prospective studies to better understand determinants of psychological difficulties (i.e. depression, anxiety) and health behaviours for mothers and fathers during the transition to parenthood.
The role of mothers and fathers during the transition to parenthood
She led the first Canadian prospective study (Canadian Institutes of Health Research funded) with 622 first-time fathers tracking depressive symptoms.13% of men reported elevated depressed mood during their partner’s pregnancy. Following a press release, these findings received international interest from media outlets.
She recently reported on the prevalence and determinants of depression in first-time fathers at 2 and 6 months postpartum, and found that men depressed during their partner’s pregnancy were 7 times more likely to be depressed at 2 months following their child’s birth.
Gender-tailored internet delivered interventions
These studies on the transition to parenthood have laid the foundation for the knowledge-transfer phase of her research program, focusing on designing and evaluating evidence-based gender-tailored internet delivered interventions to promote mental health of expectant parents during this critical life stage.
Using a multi-step process, her team developed HealthyDads, a prototype bilingual (English, French) self-guided digital intervention with accurate and accessible information on topics related to mental health, parenting and health behaviours, along with strategies to optimize each.
Our completed pilot study provides preliminary evidence that HealthyDads is an acceptable means to promote fathers’ mental health, but our engagement results indicate that further enhancements to the platform are needed.
With recent funding from the CIHR, she will refine and evaluate an engagement enhanced version of HealthyDads to inform a future clinical trial.
