Exercise as an adjunct treatment for postpartum depression for women living in an inner city-A pilot study

Jacky Forsyth1, Elizabeth Boath2, Carol Henshaw3,4

  • 1a Department of Sport and Exercise, School of Life Sciences and Education , Staffordshire University , Stoke-on-Trent , UK.

To examine the effectiveness of exercise in the management of postpartum depression (PPD), women living in an inner city, who were diagnosed using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (Perinatal Version; SCID-PN), were randomly assigned to an exercise group (N = 12) or control group (N = 12). A focus group was carried out to explore women's views of the trial. There were no significant differences between the two groups for the SCID-PN. Although women who had engaged in the exercise viewed it positively (based on focus group data), low adherence to exercise meant that significant improvements in PPD were not found.

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