Key Articles

Bauer, A., Parsonage, M., Knapp, M., Iemmi, V., Adelaja, B., & Hogg, S. (2014). Costs of perinatal mental health problems. In Centre for Mental Health and London School of Economics. https://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/sites/default/files/2018-09/costsofperinatal.pdf.

This was the first report, developed by the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and the Maternal Mental Health Alliance (MMHA), that showed that the economic cost to society of not effectively treating perinatal mental illness far outweighs the cost of providing appropriate services.  To address this issue, the British government has invested £365 million (up to 2021) in perinatal mental health services.

Barrera, A. Z., Wickham, R. E., & Muñoz, R. F. (2015). Online prevention of postpartum depression for Spanish- and English-speaking pregnant women: A pilot randomized controlled trial. Internet Interventions, 2(3), 257–265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.invent.2015.06.002

This is the first randomized control trial that evaluated an online intervention based on the Mothers and Babies program to prevent postpartum depression in pregnant women. This publication launched a new line of research on online interventions that now has hundreds of studies worldwide.

Curry, S. J., Krist, A. H., Owens, D. K., Barry, M. J., Caughey, A. B., Davidson, K. W., Doubeni, C. A., Epling, J. W., Grossman, D. C., Kemper, A. R., Kubik, M., Landefeld, C. S., Mangione, C. M., Silverstein, M., Simon, M. A., Tseng, C. W., & Wong, J. B. (2019). Interventions to Prevent Perinatal Depression: US Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement. JAMA – Journal of the American Medical Association, 321(6), 580–587. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2019.0007

The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) reviewed 50 methodologically rigorous studies and and found good evidence that counseling interventions (two are cited: the Mothers and Babies Program, a cognitive behavioral intervention; the Reach Out, Stand Strong, Essentials for new Mothers (ROSE), interpersonal psychotherapy intervention) are effective in preventing perinatal depression among pregnant and postpartum individuals.  This publication highlighted the significance of interventions to prevent perinatal depression. 

Muñoz, R. F., Le, H. N., Barrera, A. Z., & Pineda, B. S. (2021). Leading the charge toward a world without depression: perinatal depression can be prevented. Archives of women’s mental health, 24(5), 807–815. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-021-01160-1

This article celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Marcé Society and provides a 50-year historical perspective on the prevention of perinatal depression (PD).  It uses the Mothers and Babies Program as a case study to present evidence that PD can be prevented, how digital tools can be implemented worldwide, and provides recommendations for the next 40 years “to lead us toward a world without depression.”

Webb, R., Uddin, N., Ford, E., Easter, A., Shakespeare, J., Roberts, N., Alderdice, F., Coates, R., Hogg, S., Cheyne, H., Ayers, S., Clark, E., Frame, E., Gilbody, S., Hann, A., McMullen, S., Rosan, C., Salmon, D., Sinesi, A., … Williams, L. R. (2021). Barriers and facilitators to implementing perinatal mental health care in health and social care settings: a systematic review. The Lancet Psychiatry, 8(6), 521–534. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30467-3

In this systematic review, the authors discussed barriers and facilitators to implementing assessment, care, referral and treatment for perinatal mental health into health and social care services.  A complex interplay of individual, health-care professional, interpersonal, organizational, political and societal factors were identified and strategies to overcome those barriers are suggested.