Global Mental Health of Urban Mothers

Summary

Mental health disorders are common during pregnancy and the postnatal period, and can have serious adverse effects on the well-being of woman and child. Every tenth woman has depressive symptoms and 5% suffer major depression during pregnancy. The consequences for global mental health due to the novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19, are likely to be significant and may have long-term impact on the global burden of disease. Pregnant women may be particularly vulnerable due to partial immune suppression. Besides physical vulnerability, the women could be at increased risk of mental health problems, such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), due to social distancing leading to less support from the family and friends, and in some cases, partners not being allowed to be present during prenatal visits, labor and delivery. Furthermore, many pregnant women may feel insecure and worried about the effect of COVID-19 on their unborn child, if the women get infected during pregnancy. Today, young urban women are used to utilizing internet services frequently and efficiently. Therefore, providing mental health support to pregnant women via web-based support may be effective in ameliorating their anxiety/depression and reduce the risk of serious mental health disorders leading to improved maternal and perinatal outcomes.

Conditions

• Perinatal Depression
• COVID19
• Anxiety
• PTSD
• Pregnancy Related

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Web-based psychosocial peer-to-peer support

The evidence-based eHealth peer-to-peer psychosocial intervention "Thinking Healthy", will be tested in this RCT. In line with the World Health Organization's mhGAP Intervention Guide (mhGAP-IG), "Thinking Healthy" is used to identify and manage perinatal mental health conditions (distress, symptoms of depression, and anxiety) in non-specialized psychosocial support setting.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Swiss National Science Foundation

  collaborator OTHER

• Karolinska Institutet

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Simone E Schwank, PhD · Karolinska Institute CLINTEC

• Ganesh Acharya, MD PhD · Karolinska Institute CLINTEC

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

FEMALE

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2022-07-01

Primary Completion

2023-07-31

Completion

2024-12-31

Countries

• China
• Hong Kong

Study Locations