The effectiveness of telemedicine interventions on women with postpartum depression: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Abstract

Background Postpartum depression (PPD) is a public health problem that has significant adverse effects on mothers, couple's relationships, newborn neurodevelopment, and child emotional and cognitive development. This study reviewed the effectiveness of telemedicine interventions in postparturient women with postpartum depression. Aims To evaluate the effectiveness of telemedicine intervention in women with postpartum depression. Methods Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, CINAHL, and PsycINFO were searched for relevant articles published between 2003 and March 2021. We also manually reviewed the reference lists of the retrieved articles. The present study followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The risk of bias for individual studies was evaluated according to the Cochrane Handbook. RevMan 5.4 software was used to carry out the meta‐analysis. Results The meta‐analysis included 20 randomized controlled trials with a total of 3252 patients. The results demonstrated that telemedicine was an effective intervention for treating PPD and anxiety and for improving functional impairment in women during their postpartum period. Linking Evidence to Action This meta‐analysis provided evidence that telemedicine was an effective intervention for treating PPD in women. Telemedicine also has significant effects on anxiety and improved functional impairment in women during their postpartum period. Our findings may provide accurate evidence‐based guidance for postpartum women's mental health management. In the future, more high‐quality studies are required for verifying these results.

Building Emotional Awareness and Mental Health (BEAM): an open-pilot and feasibility study of a digital mental health and parenting intervention for mothers of infants

“…As hypothesized, participants reported reductions in depression symptoms ( d = .93), parenting stress ( d = .63), anxiety ( d = .58), and infant internalizing problems ( d = .51). Compared to recent meta-analyses of studies testing interventions (traditional psychotherapy and telehealth) for maternal mental health in the postpartum period, our study found similar or slightly greater effect sizes in terms of reductions in depression and anxiety symptoms, infant internalizing problems, and parenting stress [ 75 – 77 ]. These findings are promising as maternal mental health in early childhood has important implications for child behaviour and executive functioning in later childhood [ 78 ].…”

Effectiveness of digital psychological interventions in reducing perinatal depression: a systematic review of meta-analyses

“…Among the 12 meta-analyses, 11 were conducted with article quality evaluation and a description of the quality evaluation tool, and 1 study (Roman et al 2019 ) did not mention whether quality evaluation was performed. The quality evaluation tools for each of the 11 articles were as follows: 7 studies (Lau et al 2017 , 2020 , 2022 ; Liu et al 2022 ; Loughnan et al 2019 ; Neo et al 2022 ; Zhao et al 2021 ) used the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool (Higgins et al 2011 ), 1 study (Chae and Kim 2021 ) used the Cochrane Risk of Bias 2.0 (Sterne et al 2019 ), 2 studies (Nair et al 2018 ; Dol et al 2020 ) used the JBI (Lockwood et al 2015 ), and 1 study (Mu et al 2021 ) used the Jadad scale (Jadad et al 1996 ). GRADE (Guyatt et al 2008 ) was used to evaluate the evidence quality of four articles (Dol et al 2020 ; Lau et al 2020 , 2022 ; Neo et al 2022 ).…”

“…GRADE (Guyatt et al 2008 ) was used to evaluate the evidence quality of four articles (Dol et al 2020 ; Lau et al 2020 , 2022 ; Neo et al 2022 ). Almost all the included papers, except for three (Liu et al 2022 ; Nair et al 2018 ; Roman et al 2019 ), were supported by grants.…”

“…Regarding digital psychological interventions, the studies included a variety of interventions: 7 reviews included BA (Nair et al 2018 ; Loughnan et al 2019 ; Lau et al 2020 , 2022 ; Mu et al 2021 ; Zhao et al 2021 ; Liu et al 2022 ), 4 reviews included psychoeducation (Nair et al 2018 ; Lau et al 2020 ; Chae and Kim 2021 ; Neo et al 2022 ), 4 reviews included problem-solving therapy (Dol et al 2020 ; Chae and Kim 2021 ; Lau et al 2022 ; Neo et al 2022 ), and all studies included CBT. In addition, interventions such as peer support (Dol et al 2020 ; Zhao et al 2021 ), mindfulness therapy (Dol et al 2020 ; Lau et al 2020 ; Neo et al 2022 ), mood tracking (Nair et al 2018 ), metacognitive therapy and positive psychology (Chae and Kim 2021 ; Neo et al 2022 ), and stress reduction therapy (Lau et al 2020 ) have also been described.…”

Identifying the common elements of psychological and psychosocial interventions for preventing postpartum depression: Application of the distillation and matching model to 37 winning protocols from 36 intervention studies

“…It usually develops within the first 6 months after delivery (Iwata et al, 2016). Recent meta‐analyses revealed that the overall prevalence of postpartum depression is 17.7% globally (Hahn‐Holbrook et al, 2018) and 15% in China (Liu, Ma, & Yu, 2019). This condition can have far‐reaching adverse effects on the mother's physical and mental health, as well as her offspring's psychological health and cognitive and behavioural development (Bluett‐Duncan et al, 2021; Bo et al, 2021; Tainaka et al, 2022).…”