Caregiver mental health and recovery after severe childhood malnutrition
Official title: Understanding the role of caregiver mental health in outcomes following childhood severe acute malnutrition
Funded at University of California, San Francisco · NIH-11307658 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project looks at whether depression and anxiety in caregivers are linked to how well young children recover and stay healthy after treatment for severe acute malnutrition in Burkina Faso.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R21 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of California, San Francisco NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (San Francisco, United States) |
| Project start | April 1, 2025 |
| Project end | March 31, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $134,792 |
| NIH project number | 5R21MH139015-02 |
| Project ID | NIH-11307658 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal participants are caregivers of young children enrolled in the ongoing severe acute malnutrition treatment trial in Burkina Faso and willing to complete follow-up visits and questionnaires.
✕Less likely to help
Families who are not part of the parent trial, caregivers who do not complete the mental health follow-ups, or people outside the study sites are unlikely to receive direct benefits from this grant.
What this research studies
This project is added onto an ongoing treatment trial in Burkina Faso and will follow caregivers and their children during treatment and for one year after. Caregivers will be asked about symptoms of depression and anxiety at several visits while the trial team tracks child recovery, relapse, and other health outcomes. Researchers will connect the caregiver mental health information with the detailed child data the parent trial already collects to see patterns over time. Participation mainly involves questionnaire-based interviews at the same clinic visits used by the parent trial.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If findings show caregiver distress predicts poorer recovery or higher relapse, programs could add mental health support for caregivers to improve child outcomes.
How similar studies have gone: Prior research links postnatal depression to worse infant nutrition, but directly connecting caregiver mental health to recovery and relapse after severe acute malnutrition is not well tested.
Where this research is happening
-
University of California, San Francisco
San Francisco, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Velloza, Jennifer — University of California, San Francisco
- Study coordinator: Velloza, Jennifer
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
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How caregiver mental health affects recovery from severe malnutrition in young children
This project will track caregivers' depression and anxiety while their children get treatment for severe acute malnutrition to learn how caregiver mental health relates to child recovery and relapse.
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Exploring how caregiver mental health affects children recovering from severe malnutrition
This study looks at how a caregiver's feelings, like depression and anxiety, can affect how well children recover from severe malnutrition, and it’s for families in Burkina Faso who are going through this treatment together.
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.