In the News

Valley Baptist Family Practice Residency Program
to participate in National Study of Post Partum Depression

HARLINGEN, June 7, 2006 –  Postpartum depression is a common serious problem among women who have recently had babies. As many as one in eight women will experience postpartum depression. Currently the condition is often under-recognized and under-treated.

The Valley Baptist Family Practice Residency Program, located across the street from Valley Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen, is participating in a large national study of postpartum depression. This study is funded by the Agency for HealthCare Research and Quality, a federal research group similar to the National Institutes of Health and part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This five-year study will include 30 family medicine practices around the United States who are members of the American Academy of Family Physicians’ National Research Network. The results from this study could change the medical care of all postpartum women in the U.S.

Valley women who receive their care at the Valley Baptist Family Practice Residency Clinic and have had babies in the past five to 12 weeks will be asked to consider enrolling in the study on a voluntary basis. At the time of their enrollment, the women will be asked to answer three sets of questions that require about 15 minutes to complete. They will be asked to answer questions again when their babies are six and 12 months old. Women will receive a small thank you gift for answering the questions.

“This is an honor and a big responsibility for the participating medical practices and is an excellent example of research at the practice level,” said Barbara P. Yawn, MD, MSc, Director of Research at the Olmsted Medical Center in Rochester, Minnesota. “This is the type of research that can move new information into everyday medical practice.”

Dr. Yawn serves as the study’s principal investigator; she can be contacted at 507-287-2758. In addition, the study’s national coordinators, Susan Bertram, RN, and Marge Kurland, RN, can be contacted at 1-888-292-7164.

Dr. Bruce Leibert serves as Director for the Valley Baptist Family Practice Residency Program, while Dr. Daniel Lee, Faculty Member with the residency program, is serving as the principal investigator for the Harlingen study site. (The Valley Baptist Family Practice Residency Program may be contacted at 956-389-2440.) Women who suspect they may have symptoms of post-partum depression should contact their physician without delay.