Description

As many as 25% of pregnant women report mental health problems such as depressiveness and anxiety. This is a major concern as mental illness during pregnancy can have severe and long-lasting consequences for the pregnant woman, the baby, as well as the partner. Digital interventions (e.g., apps) have shown to be promising in promoting mental wellbeing, at scale, however, the majority of tools have been developed and evaluated in a general population rather than tailored for pregnancy. The objective of this trial is therefore to investigate the effectiveness of a new digital tool (HealthyMoms4MentalHealth-app) on mental health outcomes during the perinatal period. The tool has been developed tailored to the pregnancy and postpartum period.

The study is a two-arm parallel groups multi-centre randomised controlled trial where pregnant women (n=750) will be randomised (1:1) to either an intervention (HealthyMoms4MentalHealth-app) or control group (HealthyMoms-app). Primary outcome (mental wellbeing) and secondary outcomes (resilience, depressiveness, attachment, fear of childbirth) together with mediators (self-compassion and physical activity) will be measured at baseline (gestational week 10-12), timepoint 1 (gestational week 35-38) and timepoint 2 (8-10 weeks postpartum). Baseline will also assess demographic data (age, employment, education, birth country, living situation and number of children). Stressful life events will also be measured as potential confounding variable at baseline and timepoint 2 (8-10 weeks postpartum). In addition, information on obstetric and neonatal outcomes will be collected as continuous variables or incidence from medical records (Obstetrix®Cerner). They include gestational weight gain, caesarean section, infant birth weight and length and incidence of large-for gestational-age infant (birth weight \>90th percentile for gestational age and gender).