Perinatal Support: Helping Pregnant Women Fight Mood and Anxiety Disorders

Purpose for the program:

Women are more likely to experience depression during childbearing years than any other time in their lives. 15% of all women will experience postpartum depression after giving birth. Another 20% will experience depression symptoms during pregnancy. When a mother’s mental health is compromised, the entire family is affected.

Many women with pre and postpartum depression are not receiving treatment, thereby prolonging their condition and disconcerting emotions. “Growing scientific evidence suggests that hormone imbalances associated with depression can affect the fetus or put a woman at higher risk of postpartum depression… Babies of depressed mothers do worse at birth, and beyond, than other infants.”

Proposed change:

Patients must seek help when they are depressed, and many do not know where to turn. They may feel awkward or uncomfortable discussing their emotions. Wanting to help patients through this critical time, Reynolds Army Community Hospital developed a screening process for depression. They created a support group using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy designed to help with depression during pregnancy and postpartum. 

Implementation, outcomes and evaluation:

Patients were told about the group at OB orientation, and then screened at 28 weeks pregnancy, 2 weeks postpartum, and 6 weeks postpartum. Very few patients attended the support group, and Reynolds was considering dropping the class.

Reynolds decided to try once more to make this class a success, believing that their patients needed the support. They decided to send information about their pre and postpartum support group through their weekly email service in addition to notifying patients during OB orientation, and throughout their pregnancies. Through electronic communications, patients receive educational information and resources every week from their care team. Within one month, Reynolds reached its goal of having 8–10 patients at the support group, with exciting behavioral results. They now consistently have 10 or more patients in the group, both active duty and civilians.

Implications for nursing practice:

To date, there is no definitive prevention for pre or postpartum depression; however having a solid social support system through Reynolds’ support group has shown to help reduce the severity of depression, while empowering patients with coping skills. Early identification and intervention have been shown to improve long-term diagnoses for most women. Reaching women through our email service at the precise moments when they need support and guidance, Reynolds Army Community Hospital is able to help many women through this difficult and emotional time.  

Keywords:

1. Perinatal depression

2. Postpartum

3. Postpartum depression

4. Perinatal support

5. Depression

6. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy