The Effect of Non-Pharmaceutical Methods of Labor Pain Relief on Mothers’ Postpartum Depression: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Objectives: The prevalence of postpartum depression in Iran is about three times of the developed countries. This study is done for investigating the effect of non-pharmacological methods of pain relief in labor on postpartum depression. Materials and Methods: This is a controlled double-blinded random clinical trial in which 320 referred women were allocated to two intervening group (158 women) and control group (162 women) as random blocking. In the intervening group non-pharmacological methods of pain relief in labor was used. Edinburgh questionnaire was used in two stages for assessing depression: first stage before active phase onset, the second phase was eight weeks after delivery. General linear model was used for analyzing data. Results: Mean (standard deviation) of prenatal depression in the intervening group was 6.1 (3.2) and in the control group it was 6.3 (3.2), which does not show statistically significant difference between the two groups (P=0.610). Mean (standard deviation) of depression at eight weeks postpartum in the intervening group was 7.9 (4.6) and it was 8.9 (5.4) in the control group. Conclusion: Having controlled the prenatal depression grades, there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in postpartum depression. This shows the decrease of depression in the intervening group as compared to the control group which could be due to the effect of non-pharmacological methods of pain relief in labor.