Results from an effectiveness-implementation evaluation of a postpartum depression prevention intervention delivered in home visiting programs

Abstract

Background: Building on growing research examining lay health professionals delivering postpartum depression preventive interventions, we conducted a hybrid effectiveness-implementation Type 2 trial to examine implementation metrics and determine whether pregnant women receiving Mothers and Babies 1-on-1 delivered by lay home visitors exhibit greater reductions in depressive symptoms and perceived stress than women receiving usual home visiting.

Methods: 1229 (672 control, 557 intervention) pregnant women were enrolled, with intervention participants receiving Mothers and Babies 1-on-1 delivered by a lay home visitor and control participants receiving usual home visiting services. Baseline and six-month follow-up assessments measured client mental health outcomes, with management information system data collected to assess intervention dosage. Surveys were administered nine months post-training to agency managers as well as home visitors who delivered any intervention content.

Results: Intent-to-treat analyses indicated a significant reduction in perceived stress among intervention participants compared to controls, while as-treated analyses showed significant reductions in perceived stress and depressive symptoms. Although all study sites adopted the intervention, <50 % of eligible women received the intervention. Over two-thirds of home visitors made at least one fidelity-consistent adaptation, with client recruitment and retention in home visiting highlighted as challenges to delivery.

Limitations: Unmeasured historical events may have affected study outcomes and caution should be used generalizing to perinatal women from different racial/ethnic groups and home visiting models.

Conclusion: Mothers and Babies 1-on-1 delivered by lay home visitors leads to reductions in perceived stress and depressive symptoms, suggesting task shifting to non-mental health professionals is viable when appropriate training and supervision is provided.

Keywords: Community health workers; Home visiting; Implementation science; Intervention; Postpartum depression; Prevention.