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Abstract
Postpartum depression is a serious problem not only for mothers, but also for their children and families. Evidence is scarce on the effectiveness of couple-targeted antenatal interventions aimed at preventing postpartum depression in Asia. Therefore, we implemented an antenatal parenting support program from Australia (“empathy program”) at three sites in Japan, and assessed the characteristics of participating couples and changes in their mental health indicators before and after the program (during pregnancy and 6 weeks postpartum, respectively). In this program, participant couples discussed concerns during pregnancy and a “difficult day” scenario with other same-gender participants and then with their own partners. In total, 100 couples attended the program. Among 60 participating mothers, 20% screened positive for maternal depression symptoms (defined as an Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale greater than 9). Changes in paternal empathy and maternal antenatal Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale score were significantly associated with maternal postpartum Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale score in multivariable analyses. Our results indicate that a key in preventing postpartum depression is paternal involvement and long-term support from antenatal phase.
Acknowledgments
We thank the following people for their assistance in this study: Isuzu Endo and Mitsuko Komatsu from the Fukushima City Health and Welfare Center; Hisae Ishida, Kazuko Tamanoe, Yuko Endo, Miho Ohtsuki, Ayumi Sato, Ai Yamaki, Yukari Kaneko, and Chizuko Tachibana from Fukushima Red Cross Hospital; Mifumi Mizuno, Mayuka Saito, Hisayo Miyamoto, and Tomoko Tanaka from the nonprofit organization for child-rearing support (Place of Peace) in Shizuoka City; Taeko Suzuki, Kimi Saito, and Kiyotaka Yasui from Fukushima Medical University; and Shunichi Shibata and Yumiko Sano from Tokoha University.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Funding
This work was supported by the Fukushima Medical University School of Nursing and by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science under KAKENHI Grant 17K12297.