The effectiveness of mobile phone text massaging support for mothers with postpartum depression: A clinical before and after study

BACKGROUND: It is estimated that postpartum depression (PPD) occurs in 10–15% of women in the year after childbirth. The highest number of women with PPD has limited access to psychosocial and pharmacological interventions. Long-distance counseling via mobile phone might be useful for the treatment of women with PPD, specifically in regions with low socioeconomical status and rural areas. OBJECTIVE: Due to the high prevalence of PPD and its effects on health status of mothers and babies, we aimed to determine whether long-distance counseling via mobile phone text messaging is efficacious for the treatment of mothers at PPD risk. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This pre-test and post-test clinical study was conducted in 2014 on 54 women referred to hospital affiliated to Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences in the south of Iran. Data were collected twice (baseline and follow-up) through telephone interviews for assessing PPD risk of participants via the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). The participants were recontacted by phone within 14 days after their childbirth. Women at PPD risk (EPDS ≥12) were included in the study to receive daily text messages and others were excluded. Each mother received two daily text messages via mobile phones for 35 days. The data were analyzed using SPSS 16. RESULTS: The average age of participants was 27.27 (range 17–35). Findings revealed that sending text messages to women with PPD would decline PPD. At pre-test, the average score for PPD was 14.44 (SD = 2.66) and it was declined to 11.94 (SD = 2.49) at the post-test phase. There was a significant difference between pre-test and post-test evaluations (P-value < 001). CONCLUSIONS: Long-distance counseling through sending text messages to patients with PPD can be an effective treatment along with other current treatments. This can improve mothers’ health literacy about maternal postpartum psychological disorders.