The Effectiveness of Online Psychotherapy Interventions for Perinatal Mental Health Disorders: A Systematic Review

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Abstract

Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of online psychotherapy (O-P-T) interventions for the treatment of perinatal mental health (PMH) disorders.

Design: A narrative systematic review of the literature was conducted.

Methods: Eligibility criteria was developed using the PICOS framework. Five electronic databases were searched: PsycINFO, Medline, CINAHL Complete, Proquest Dissertations and Theses, Scopus along with Google Scholar and The Shapiro Library to identify papers published before July 2020. Interventions were included if participants had a clinician assessed diagnosis of a PMH illness at screening, was an experimental design and had clinician involvement in the intervention. Quality was assessed using the Quality Assessment Criteria for Evaluating Primary Research Papers from a Variety of Fields.

Results: 2567 papers were identified and five met the inclusion criteria. Studies were of good quality and the combined sample of participants was 209. Treatment fidelity was not reported. Pooled effect sizes found small to medium effects favouring the intervention versus control on the reduction of depressive symptoms and in some cases remission (d = 0.48, 95% CI -0.07, 1.06). Pooled effect sizes on within-group data resulted in large treatment effects for depression, anxiety and stress outcomes (d = 1.90; d = 0.81; d = 1.05).

Conclusions: This review provides evidence that O-P-T interventions for the treatment of PMH disorders are effective in improving clinical outcomes. There, is a need to further test online EMDR interventions using different modalities such as videoconferencing.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished (in print/issue) - 15 Apr 2021
EventNorthern Ireland Branch of the British Psychological Society Virtual Annual Conference 2021: NI BPS Annual Conference 2021 -
Duration: 15 Apr 202116 Apr 2021

Conference

ConferenceNorthern Ireland Branch of the British Psychological Society Virtual Annual Conference 2021
Period15/04/2116/04/21

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