Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science / Revue canadienne des sciences du comportement, Vol 58(3), Jul 2026, 202-213; doi:10.1037/cbs0000475
Maternal depression and anxiety dramatically increased for mothers of young children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Few programs target maternal mental health and parenting skills concurrently despite this being more effective. An eHealth program, Building Emotional Awareness and Mental Health (BEAM), was developed to address this gap. A feasibility randomized controlled trial was conducted with BEAM and a community partner versus an existing app for adult mental health (MoodMission). Mothers of children 6–18 months old participated in a two-arm, parallel-design pragmatic randomized controlled trial (April–June 2022). Mothers were randomly allocated to BEAM or MoodMission. Primary (depression, anxiety) and secondary (anger, sleep disturbance, parenting stress) outcomes were collected at preintervention, postintervention, and 6-month follow-up. Eighty mothers (Mage = 31.61 years old) were enrolled. All feasibility metrics were met based on a priori benchmarks for success. All maternal mental health and parenting stress outcomes decreased from pre- to postintervention and follow-up in BEAM and MoodMission. When controlling for symptom severity at enrollment, treatment group (BEAM, MoodMission) moderated anxiety symptom reductions such that BEAM was more effective in reducing anxiety symptoms across time versus MoodMission (b = −1.48, SE = 0.74, p = .045). Symptom severity at enrollment did not moderate symptom reductions, and there was no Symptom Severity × Treatment Group × Time interaction. Feasibility and effectiveness of BEAM was demonstrated for delivery with a community partner. Findings suggest BEAM holds the potential to promote the mental well-being of mothers of young children. Results have informed a future large-scale randomized controlled trial of BEAM across Canada. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)