Perinatal depression and implementation of the "Thinking Healthy program" support intervention in an impoverished setting of Lima, Peru: Assessment before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Margot Aguilar; Carmen Contreras; Giuseppe Raviola; Alejandra Sepúlveda; Maricielo Espinoza; Leydi Moran; Lourdes Ramos; Jesús Peinado; Leonid Lecca; Gloria A Pedersen; Brandon A Kohrt; Jerome T Galea

doi:10.1017/gmh.2023.45

Perinatal depression and implementation of the "Thinking Healthy program" support intervention in an impoverished setting of Lima, Peru: Assessment before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Glob Ment Health (Camb). 2023 Sep 8:10:e64. doi: 10.1017/gmh.2023.45. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Margot Aguilar¹, Carmen Contreras^{1

2}, Giuseppe Raviola^{3

4

5}, Alejandra Sepúlveda¹, Maricielo Espinoza¹, Leydi Moran¹, Lourdes Ramos^{1

6}, Jesús Peinado^{1

7}, Leonid Lecca^{1

3

4}, Gloria A Pedersen⁸, Brandon A Kohrt⁸, Jerome T Galea^{3

9}

Affiliations

¹ Socios En Salud, Lima, Peru.
² Harvard Global Health Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
³ Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
⁴ Partners in Health, Boston, MA, USA.
⁵ Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
⁶ Escuela Profesional de Tecnología Médica, Universidad Privada San Juan Bautista, Lima, Peru.
⁷ School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Peruvian University of Applied Sciences - UPC, Lima, Peru.
⁸ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, George Washington University, Washington DC, USA.
⁹ School of Social Work, University of South Florida, FL, USA.

Abstract

Socios En Salud (SES) implemented the Thinking Healthy program (THP) to support women with perinatal depression before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Lima Norte. We carried out an analysis of the in-person (5 modules) and remote (1 module) THP intervention. Depression was detected using PHQ-9, and THP sessions were delivered in women with a score (PHQ-9 ≥ 5). Depression was reassessed and pre- and post-scores were compared. In the pre-pandemic cohort, perinatal depression was 25.4% (47/185), 47 women received THP and 27 were reassessed (57.4%), and the PHQ-9 score median decreased from 8 to 2, p < 0.001. In the pandemic cohort, perinatal depression was 47.5% (117/247), 117 women received THP and 89 were reassessed (76.1%), and the PHQ-9 score median decreased from 7 to 2, p < 0.001. THP's modalities helped to reduce perinatal depression. Pregnant women who received a module remotely also reduced depression.

Keywords: COVID-19; Peru; Thinking Healthy program; depression; pregnant women.