DadBooster randomised 50 fathers with clinically diagnosed postnatal depression to internet-delivered CBT or a waitlist for twelve weeks.
DASS-21 depression scores were lower with the intervention, an adjusted mean difference of -7.26 (interval -11.34 to -3.18), with average scores falling 72% against 40% and reaching the normal range. Stress fell by 6.55 points, parenting self-efficacy rose by 4.06, and negative automatic thoughts fell by 18.10, all significant. Engagement was good — 80% completed four or more sessions — and there were no adverse events.
The diagnostic outcome did not reach significance: 2 of 23 (9%) still met criteria at twelve weeks against 7 of 24 (29%), p=0.14. With 50 participants that is expected, and the symptom-scale results are the better-powered comparison.
Paternal postnatal depression is common, associated with adverse child outcomes, and almost entirely unaddressed by services organised around mothers. A fifty-patient waitlist trial does not settle the field, but it is the first randomised evidence for a treatment designed for these fathers, and it is an intervention that scales without clinicians.
- 50 participants and a waitlist control — expectation effects are not controlled
- The diagnostic remission difference did not reach significance
- Symptom scales improved substantially and consistently across domains
- 80% completed four or more sessions, which is good for digital CBT
- Fills a gap: postnatal services are almost universally mother-directed
The statistics, in plain English
A waitlist control leaves expectation and attention uncontrolled, so the true effect against an active comparator would very likely be smaller. Note also the partial eta-squared of 0.21 — a large effect by convention — sitting alongside a non-significant diagnostic outcome. With 50 participants the continuous measures have power and the binary one does not; that is a sample-size artefact, not a contradiction.
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