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Depression & Low-Income Women:
Challenges for TANF and Welfare-to-Work Policies and ProgramsA report by: The Research Forum, an initiative of the National Center for Children in Poverty, Columbia University (April, 2001). Support for this report has come from the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS)
Introduction
This report reviews the literature on the prevalence, treatment, and consequences of depression in low-income women, highlighting the relationship of depression to welfare and employment. Depression is a debilitating illness, characterized by profound feelings of sadness, low mood, and loss of interest in usual activities, that can have severe adverse effects, not only on the individual woman but also on her job and family life.
Recent changes in welfare policy in the United States, including the five-year lifetime limit on assistance and the requirement that recipients obtain jobs after two years of continuous support, have increased concern about depression and other problems facing many women on welfare. The research findings reviewed here have a range of implications for research and for TANF and welfare-to-work policies and programs, which are outlined in this report.
- Prevalence of Depression Nationally
- Prevalence of Depression in Women on Welfare
- Relationship of Employment and Depression
- Depression as a barrier to employment
- Consequences of Maternal Depression for Children
- Treatment Availability
- Care Received Once Access has been Achieved
- Barriers to Treatment
For more information about this study and the full report, as well as research citations, please refer to Depression and Low-Income Women: Challenges for TANF and Welfare-to-Work Policies and Programs.
Copies of the full publication are available on the Research Forum Web site:
www.researchforum.org or by writing to NCCP, 154 Haven Avenue, New York, NY 10032
Tel: (212) 304-7100; Fax: (212) 544-4200 or 544-4201; E-mail: info@researchforum.org.
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2001 New York Work Exchange.phone: (212) 742-1122, e-mail:
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