Psychosocial interventions before conception and the impact on perinatal depression, anxiety and stress: A scoping review (Embase).

Abstract

Abstract Background: While the preconception period is widely acknowledged as a critical phase for enhancing maternal health, there lacks a comprehensive overview of preconceptional psychosocial or midwife-supported psychological interventions aimed at tackling perinatal mental health issues. Objective: This scoping review aimed to identify existing psychosocial and midwife-supported psychological interventions performed during the preconception period, for the prevention of depressive symptoms, anxiety and stress during pregnancy or after childbirth. Methods: After an informative, exploratory search, seven electronic databases were searched on the 31st of January 2023. In addition, clinical trials registries were searched, and forward/backward citation searching of included articles was performed, and the authors of conference abstracts were contacted. Two independent end blinded reviewers screened a total of 7254 articles by title/abstract using pre-discussed inclusion and exclusion criteria, and 132 by full text using a predetermined data extraction table. Finally 3 studies and 5 study protocols were included. Results: Two studies showed a statistically non-significant reduction in prenatal levels of anxiety in women who received preconception counseling by a health care provider not directly trained as a psychotherapist. One study showed a statistically non-significant marginal reduction in stress and a small increase in depressive symptoms during pregnancy in women who received preconceptional education, whether or not in combination with a social-cognitive theory based lifestyle intervention. Five study protocols were found requiring further follow-up in the near future. Conclusion: Longitudinal randomized controlled trials, starting during the preconception period, are needed to facilitate the process of developing tailored prevention strategies.