Virtual Reality-enhanced Psychotherapy for Perinatal Depression

Stanford University

Status: Not yet enrolling

Conditions: Depression During Pregnancy

Treatments: Behavioral: Virtual reality behavioral activation

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT07279311

79808

Details and patient eligibility

About

Perinatal depression is a growing public health crisis in the United States, affecting one in five individuals during pregnancy or postpartum. Mental health conditions contribute to 23% of maternal deaths, underscoring the urgent need for innovative interventions. Obstetric patients who experience complications requiring prolonged hospitalization are particularly vulnerable to mental health deterioration. Virtual reality (VR) has shown promise for expanding access, reducing barriers, and enhancing first-line depression treatment when paired with evidence-based psychotherapies such as behavioral activation (BA). However, traditional BA is not feasible for inpatients, as their hospitalization prevents participation in conventional in-person, mood-boosting activities; VR-enhanced BA (VR-BA) presents a novel opportunity to address this gap.

The goal of the study is to compare a 3-week VR-BA protocol to standard therapy (social work consultation) for hospitalized pregnant individuals with depressive symptoms. The objectives are to assess 1) whether VR-BA is acceptable, tolerable, and feasible in this population and 2) whether it leads to greater reductions in depressive symptoms compared to standard therapy.

Enrollment: 44 estimated patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Patients admitted to Stanford Children's Hospital antepartum unit for obstetric indications that are likely to warrant >3 weeks of hospitalization (such as vasa previa, preterm premature rupture of membranes, severe preeclampsia).
• Able to read and write in English or Spanish
• Baseline EPDS score on admission >=10 on routine screening
• Admitted >24 hours prior to enrollment

Exclusion criteria

• Patients with serious neuropsychiatric illness (bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, epilepsy, or suicidal ideation)
• Known delivery planned within the next 3 weeks

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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44 participants in 2 patient groups

Standard of care

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants will receive standard therapy during their antepartum hospitalization, which will include consultations with social workers and psychiatry physicians (if recommended by the social worker).

Virtual-Reality Behavioral Activation

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will receive the 3-week VR-BA psychotherapy. The VR-BA consists of 4 self-guided VR sessions per week and a weekly telemedicine guided BA session with a trained study team member via ZOOM (and Spanish interpreter, if required) lasting 30-50 minutes. This will be a total of 3 telemedicine-guided BA sessions and 12 self-guided VR sessions over the course of the study.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Virtual reality behavioral activation