Shafiei, Touran, McLachlan, Helen L., Dennis, Cindy-Lee, Nicholson, Jan M., Nguyen, Tram, Shiell, Alan, Nguyen, Cattram D., Grimes, Heather, Bee, Jessica, Adams, Catina, Callander, Emily, and Forster, Della A. (2024) Preventing postnatal depression in new mothers using telephone peer support: protocol for the DAISY (Depression and AnxIety peer Support studY) multi-centre randomised controlled trial. BMJ Open, 14. e087477.

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Abstract

Introduction Postnatal depression affects up to one in six new mothers in Australia each year, with significant impacts on the woman and her family. Prevention strategies can be complicated by a woman’s reluctance to seek professional help. Peer support is a promising but inadequately tested early intervention. Very few trials have reported on the efficacy of peer support in the perinatal period and no study has been undertaken in Australia. We will explore if proactive telephone-based peer (mother-to-mother) support, provided to women identified as being at high risk of postnatal depression, impacts on clinically significant depressive symptomatology at 6 months postpartum.

Methods and analysis This is a protocol for a single-blinded, multi-centre, randomised controlled trial conducted in Melbourne, Australia. Eligible women will be recruited from either the postnatal units of two maternity hospitals, or around 4 weeks postpartum at maternal and child health centres within two metropolitan council areas. A total of 1060 (530/group) women will be recruited and randomly allocated (1:1 ratio) to either—usual care, to receive the standard community postpartum services available to them, or the intervention group, to receive proactive telephone-based support from a peer volunteer for 6 months, in addition to standard community services. Primary outcome: clinically significant depressive symptomatology at 6 months postpartum as measured using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. Secondary outcomes: symptoms of anxiety and/or stress, health-related quality of life, loneliness, perception of partner support, self-rated parenting, child health and development, infant feeding and health service use. The cost-effectiveness of the intervention relative to standard care will also be assessed.

Ethics and dissemination Ethics approval has been obtained from La Trobe University, St. Vincent’s Hospital, the Royal Women’s Hospital, Northern Health, Victorian Department of Health and Human Services and Victorian Department of Education and Training. Written informed consent will be obtained from all participants before randomisation. Trial results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations and a higher degree thesis.

Item ID:	85883
Item Type:	Article (Scholarly Work)
ISSN:	2044-6055
Copyright Information:	© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
Funders:	National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
Projects and Grants:	NHMRC grant number 1141284
Date Deposited:	18 Jun 2025 01:50
FoR Codes:	42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4206 Public health > 420605 Preventative health care @ 100%
SEO Codes:	28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280112 Expanding knowledge in the health sciences @ 100%
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