Mother Matters Online Postpartum Support

Women's College Hospital

Status: Completed

Conditions: Depression

Treatments: Behavioral: Mother Matters Online Postpartum Support Group

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02953626

2016-0032-B

Details and patient eligibility

About

Postpartum depression is common, yet only 20% of women seek treatment. Online support groups are a potential means of providing accessible mental health care during this time. Mother Matters is a 10-week online psychotherapy group for women with postpartum depression & anxiety. The investigators aim to conduct a pilot RCT to demonstrate the feasibility of proceeding to a large-scale RCT evaluation of the Mother Matters intervention.

Full description

The postpartum period is a particularly vulnerable time for the development of mental health concerns; postpartum depression (i.e. depression with onset between 0-12 months postpartum) affects approximately 13% of mothers in Canada. There are serious negative consequences to both mother and child during this period, yet only 20% of women seek treatment, citing significant systematic and personal barriers. Online support groups have been identified as a potential means of providing accessible mental health care during this time. Mother Matters is a 10-week online support group for women with postpartum depression and anxiety, run trained psychotherapists in the Reproductive Life Stages (RLS) program at Women's College Hospital in Toronto, Ontario. Mother Matters was designed to address barriers related to accessing postpartum mental health services: it can be accessed anywhere (online group), at any time (available 24/7), and with anonymity (to address the barrier of shame/stigma). The overall objective of the current pilot RCT is to determine the feasibility of conducting a large randomized controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy of the group, comparing outcomes among those with and without access to the program.

Enrollment: 96 patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion Criteria

The specific inclusion criteria for this group are women who are:

1. Mothers of a baby/babies between 0 and 12 months old at enrollment, and
2. Over 18 years old, and
3. Have an Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) score of >9, and
4. Reside in Ontario.

Exclusion Criteria

Women will not be eligible to participate in the study if they are:

1. Experiencing active suicidal ideation, or
2. Have active substance use, mania or psychosis, or
3. Unable to access the internet, or
4. Unable to participate in English.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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96 participants in 2 patient groups

Immediate Treatment Condition (ITC)

Experimental group

Description:

Mother Matters Online Postpartum Support Group. Participants will be assigned to begin immediately after randomization.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Mother Matters Online Postpartum Support Group

Waitlist Control Condition (WLC)

No Intervention group

Description:

Mother Matters Online Postpartum Support Group. Participants will receive the intervention after the Immediate Treatment Condition group completes the intervention, and after follow-up data are collected from both groups.