The Effects of Depressive Symptom Management Interventions on Low-Income Mothers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

AIM: To evaluate the effects of depressive symptom management interventions for low-income mothers.

BACKGROUND: Depressive symptoms and depression are common complications following childbirth. Depressive symptoms experienced by low-income mothers negatively affect infant-toddler development.

DESIGN: A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to provide a synthesized and critical appraisal of the included studies.

DATA SOURCES: We conducted a systematic search of randomized controlled trials in the following electronic databases through November 2017: PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycInfo and Cochrane Library CENTRAL.

REVIEW METHODS: Ten studies were found in the systematic review of depressive symptom management interventions in terms of content, mode of delivery, session and provider. We then conducted a meta-analysis of nine randomized controlled trials with 798 participants, comparing low-income mothers with and without depressive symptom management interventions.

RESULTS: A significant effect was noted for depressive symptom management interventions in improving depressive symptoms in low-income mothers with young children and for interventions lasting eight weeks or less.

CONCLUSION: The meta-analysis suggested that depressive symptom management interventions for low-income mothers can be effective; however, the effectiveness varies by intervention type, intervention duration and whether the mothers had other children.

IMPACT: The findings of this study will contribute to the development of effective depressive symptom management interventions by providing scientific evidence for the development of such programs for low-income mothers, especially with respect to target population and intervention duration. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.