Abstract
Objective: Untreated perinatal mental health disorders can have serious consequences for the whole family system. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of peer support intervention in improving postpartum psychological distress. Method: We evaluated a remote peer support intervention, Mom Supports Mom, in a randomized controlled trial. The primary study outcome was the level of depressive symptoms at week six after delivery. Secondary outcomes included levels of anxiety symptoms, quality of life and the presence of psychiatric disorders at week six after delivery. Trial protocol was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04639752). Results: The study sample consisted of 315 participants in the control group, and 173 participants in the intervention group. The Mom Supports Mom intervention was associated with decreased depressive (Cohen's d = 0.30, p = .003) and anxiety symptomatology (d = 0.29, p =.003) at week six after birth compared to the control group. Mom Supports Mom intervention was also associated with an increase in health-related quality of life at week six after birth (d = 0.27, p =.008). No statistically significant difference was found between the groups in the presence of psychiatric diagnoses at six weeks postpartum. Conclusions: Peer intervention Mom Supports Mom is effective in reducing depressive and anxiety symptomatology in postpartum women and improving their health-related quality of life. Mom Supports Mom can serve as a low-intensity approach that is effective for mild illness and has the potential to be scalable.