Dr Charlene Holt is a Senior Research Fellow at the Parent-Infant Research Institute (PIRI) and a psychologist. She has 20 years of experience in developing and evaluating programs that support parents and strengthen the relationship between mothers and their babies following postnatal depression. Her work has also focused on improving treatment for antenatal, postnatal, and paternal depression, with a particular interest in using digital programs to make help more accessible for families.

Dr Holt has extensive experience conducting randomised controlled trials and has managed numerous clinical trials. She currently leads PIRI’s research stream focused on mother–infant interventions.

Postnatal depression affects around one in ten new mothers and can have lasting effects on her baby. While treatment for the mother’s depression is now common, what is often missed is support for disruptions to the mother-infant relationship. Depression can make it difficult for mothers to respond sensitively to their babies, which can affect the child’s emotional and social development. Even when the mother’s mood improves, the relationship between mother and baby does not always recover on its own.

To address this gap, we have developed eHUGS, an innovative online program designed to strengthen the relationship between mothers and their infants after postnatal depression. Based on our proven therapist-delivered program (HUGS), eHUGS makes support more accessible and flexible for families. The program includes four weekly online sessions, text message support, and a phone call from a program coach to encourage engagement.

This study aims to test how effective eHUGS is compared to standard online freely available parenting information. We will recruit 126 mothers with babies under 12 months who have commenced or completed treatment for postnatal depression. We will measure improvements in the baby’s social and emotional development and the quality of the mother-infant relationship up to three months after the program.

If effective, eHUGS could offer a simple, accessible, and scalable way to support mothers and babies across Australia, helping to prevent long-term emotional and developmental problems in children.

Co-Investigators: Professor Jeannette Milgrom, Dr Alan Gemmill, Professor John Reece, Professor Anne Buist and Professor Megan Galbally.