Effectiveness of a group intervention led by lay health workers in reducing the incidence of postpartum depression in South India.

Background: Postnatal depression is a highly prevalent disorder with serious implications on maternal and child outcomes. There are few studies examining feasible interventions in low-middle-income community settings.

Aims: To assess the effectiveness of a low intensity group intervention led by lay workers during the antenatal period in reducing postnatal depression at 6-2 weeks postpartum.

Methods: A parallel group design with both positive and negative controls was employed. 1 community site was allocated to each of the 3 arms. The active intervention consisted of problem based sessions with cognitive behavioural components. The primary outcome was the presence of depression on CIS-R and secondary outcome measures where Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scores, EPNDS scores and participant perceptions.

Results: 69, 75 and 70 women received active, positive control and negative control interventions respectively. Post partum depression diagnosed with the CIS-R was present in 14.06% (C.I.- 5.55%-22.57%) and 22.62% (C.I.15.62%-29.63%) in the active arm and two control (combined) arms respectively. There was a 1/3 lower proportion of postpartum depression and impaired functioning in the intervention group, though statistical significance was not reached (p = 0.30). There were high levels of satisfaction reported for the active intervention.

Conclusion: There were trends for the possible effectiveness for this low intensity intervention and conclusions regarding its effectiveness can't be made as the sample size was small. There is a need to explore and develop locally relevant, innovative and feasible strategies for prevention of postnatal depression in resource constrained enviroments.