In 2017, 25% of births in the US were to adolescent women 15-24 years of age. An estimated 13% of women experience perinatal depression (a depressive episode during pregnancy or the first year postpartum). Perinatal depression is even more common among adolescents, low-income women, and women of color.

The Mothers and Babies program is a structured group cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) intervention that has been shown to prevent and reduce severity of perinatal depression. The curriculum is designed for in-person delivery, which can make it challenging to access due to transportation barriers, time, and stigma. This is especially true for adolescents.

Social media platforms are widely used by adolescents and can help adolescents access counseling and social support without the access barriers to in-person care. The IMAGINE study will develop a social media-based group counseling intervention to prevent perinatal depressive symptoms in adolescents, based on core elements of the Mothers and Babies curriculum: psychoeducation, skill-building, and peer support.