Most cited article - PubMed ID 32691155
Prevalence of mental disorders and treatment gap among Czech women during paid maternity or parental leave
Objective: Untreated perinatal mental health disorders can have serious consequences for the whole family system. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of peer support intervention in improving postpartum psychological distress. Method: We evaluated a remote peer support intervention, Mom Supports Mom, in a randomized controlled trial. The primary study outcome was the level of depressive symptoms at week six after delivery. Secondary outcomes included levels of anxiety symptoms, quality of life and the presence of psychiatric disorders at week six after delivery. Trial protocol was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04639752). Results: The study sample consisted of 315 participants in the control group, and 173 participants in the intervention group. The Mom Supports Mom intervention was associated with decreased depressive (Cohen's d = 0.30, p = .003) and anxiety symptomatology (d = 0.29, p =.003) at week six after birth compared to the control group. Mom Supports Mom intervention was also associated with an increase in health-related quality of life at week six after birth (d = 0.27, p =.008). No statistically significant difference was found between the groups in the presence of psychiatric diagnoses at six weeks postpartum. Conclusions: Peer intervention Mom Supports Mom is effective in reducing depressive and anxiety symptomatology in postpartum women and improving their health-related quality of life. Mom Supports Mom can serve as a low-intensity approach that is effective for mild illness and has the potential to be scalable.
- Keywords
- Mental health, Peer support intervention, Postpartum, Psychosocial intervention,
- MeSH
- Adult MeSH
- Quality of Life psychology MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Mothers * psychology MeSH
- Depression, Postpartum * therapy psychology MeSH
- Postpartum Period * psychology MeSH
- Psychological Distress * MeSH
- Social Support * MeSH
- Pregnancy MeSH
- Anxiety therapy psychology MeSH
- Peer Group * MeSH
- Check Tag
- Adult MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Pregnancy MeSH
- Female MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Randomized Controlled Trial MeSH
BACKGROUND: Although perinatal mental disorders are the most common health complication among women in the perinatal period, there is a huge gap in the implementation of related research findings in the health care system. We mapped the state of perinatal mental health (PMH) care in the WHO Europe region with aim to identify leading countries, which can serve as models for countries with less developed perinatal mental health care. METHODS: Guidelines, policies, and documents related to screening and treatment services for PMH were searched as grey literature. Results were analysed to assess the status of PMH care in the WHO European countries and to identify gaps (absence of relevant service or documents). The state of perinatal mental health care was scored on a 0-5 scale. RESULTS: The grey literature search resulted in a total of 361 websites. Seven countries (Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden, UK, Malta) received full points for the presence of relevant PMH services or documents, while five countries received zero points. Most WHO European countries (48/53) have general mental health policies, but only 25 countries have policies specifically on perinatal mental health. Ten countries offer PMH screening, and 11 countries offer PMH service (of any type). Any PMH guidelines were provided in 23/53 countries. CONCLUSIONS: Perinatal mental health care is in its infancy in most WHO European countries. Leading countries (Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden, UK, Malta) in PMH care can serve as conceptual models for those less developed and geopolitically close.
