Mindful Yoga for Postpartum Depression

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Mood Disorders

Treatments: Other: Psychoeducation; Behavioral: Mindfulness-based yoga program

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06275217

HMRF17182481

Details and patient eligibility

About

This is a parallel-group randomized controlled trial. A total of 198 postpartum women with depressive symptoms (EPDS scores≥8 at baseline) will be recruited and randomized into two groups: 10-week mindful yoga intervention and 10-week psychoeducation program. Clinical assessment of depression, self-report questionnaires and salivary cortisol tests will be performed at baseline, after 10-week intervention, and at 6-month and 12-month follow-ups. The investigators expected that the mindful yoga intervention will reduce depression after 10 weeks compared to psychoeducation. The mindful yoga intervention will further reduce anxiety, stress, improve quality of life and sleep, and steepen diurnal cortisol slopes. These effects will be maintained for at least six months.

Enrollment: 198 estimated patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 18 to 60 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Postpartum women aged 18-60 years old.
• The scores of EPDS ≥ 10.
• At least 6 week and up to 1 year after childbirth.
• Giving birth to a single full-term healthy baby (gestation between 37-41 weeks, body weight > 2.5kg, APGAR score at 5 minutes > 7).
• Fewer than 10 hours of yoga/Qi gong/Tai Chi or mindfulness/meditation practice in the previous 3 months.

Exclusion criteria

• Severe complications after delivery, or their infants are admitted to NICU.
• Regular psychiatric follow-up.
• Currently taking antipsychotic drugs.
• Known pragnancy, or other contraindications to physical exercise (e.g., wound healing situation) according to the body examination by O&G clinicians at 6 weeks after delivery.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Triple Blind

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198 participants in 2 patient groups

Mindful yoga group

Experimental group

Description:

The participants in experimental group will receive a 10-week mindfulness-based yoga program, one session per week with 1.5 hours in each session.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Mindfulness-based yoga program

Psychoeducation group

Active Comparator group

Description:

The participants in the psychoeducation group will receive a 10-week psychoeducation program, one session per week with 1.5 hours in each session.

Treatment:

Other: Psychoeducation