The effect of digital health intervention on perinatal negative emotions: A meta-analysis

Women are prone to negative emotions, including fear symptoms, anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms. Digital health intervention (DHI) has the potential to alleviate these symptoms.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of DHI on perinatal negative emotions including fear symptoms, anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms.

This was a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature databases were searched. The risk of bias for each study was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool for randomized trials (RoB 2.0) and the meta-analysis was performed using R-4.4.3 software.

A total of 63 randomized controlled trials were included. The results revealed that the utilization of DHI had the potential to alleviate perinatal fear (SMD = -1.90, 95 %CI [-3.49, -0.32], P < 0.05), anxiety (SMD = -0.84, 95 %CI [-1.36, -0.32], P < 0.01) and depressive symptoms (SMD = -0.54, 95 %CI [-0.77, -0.30], P < 0.05). Subgroup analysis suggested that interventions based on APP, Internet and VR significantly alleviated perinatal anxiety symptoms. Interventions based on APP and Internet significantly alleviated depressive symptoms. Both prenatal and postnatal DHI were effective in alleviating anxiety and depressive symptoms. DHI effectively alleviated perinatal depressive symptoms in women without diagnosed mental disorder, but demonstrated no statistically significant effect in patients with diagnosed mental disorder.

This meta-analysis of randomized trials suggests that DHI could reduce perinatal fear symptoms, anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms. We look forward to more relevant studies to strengthen the evidence base for clinical intervention of DHI.