Importance of Engaging Partners in Digital Postpartum Depression Prevention: Qualitative Study

Area of Science:

• Digital health interventions
• Maternal and child health
• Mental health technology

Background:

• Postpartum depression (PPD) affects mothers and can impact the entire family.
• Existing digital interventions for PPD primarily target mothers.
• Optimizing PPD interventions for smartphone delivery requires understanding user needs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To gather qualitative feedback on adapting a maternal PPD intervention into a smartphone app.
• To identify potential improvements for a digital PPD intervention based on user input.
• To explore the need for dyadic or partner-focused digital PPD interventions.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative interviews with participants involved in optimizing a maternal PPD smartphone app.
• Analysis of participant suggestions regarding intervention delivery.
• Identification of research gaps in digital dyadic PPD interventions.

Main Results:

• Participants suggested delivering the PPD smartphone app intervention to both parents concurrently.
• This feedback indicates a potential demand for partner-inclusive digital mental health tools.
• The study highlights the need for further investigation into dyadic approaches.

Conclusions:

• Smartphone-based PPD interventions may benefit from a dual-parent delivery model.
• Digital dyadic or stand-alone partner interventions warrant further research for PPD prevention.
• Integrating partners into digital maternal mental health support is a promising avenue.