The Mothers and Babies Internet Project: What Did We Learn From Our Participants?

Introduction: Women are at an increased risk of depression, especially during the childbearing years. Depression during pregnancy and the postpartum period has short- and long-lasting negative effects on the mother’s health and the development of her newborn child. There is growing evidence to support the use of prevention strategies to reduce the incidence or risk of PPD. The Internet’s worldwide reach may be a viable means toward reducing the global burden of this disease. Objective: This presentation will discuss preliminary data on the Mothers and Babies Internet Project which is a two-condition pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) designed to test the efficacy of a web-adapted prevention of postpartum depression intervention. The original Mothers and Babies Course/Curso Mamas y Bebes was designed as a face-to-face group intervention for at-risk pregnant women. Within the context of highlighting lessons learned from the online pilot RCT, this presentation will a) describe the intervention adaptation, b) present preliminary data on participant characteristics, and c) describe participants’ engagement with the study website. Methods: Pregnant women were recruited to participate in an online intervention study to learn to manage changes in their mood during pregnancy and the postpartum period. The site was fully-automated to recruit, screen, randomize and deliver the intervention. Participants were invited to complete monthly follow-up assessments up to six months postpartum. Recruitment and enrollment of new participants ended in June 2012. Given that participants joined the study at any gestational stage, monthly follow-up assessments will continue until January 2013. Results: To date, 18,244 pregnant women met eligibility criteria for this study (i.e., over 18 years, female, pregnant and interested in the site for personal use). Of these, 2,925 representing 100 countries consented to participate and completed the baseline survey (i.e., enrolled). Enrolled participants (mean age= 27.8 years, SD=5.8) were predominantly native Spanish-speakers (70%) who self-identified as Latino/Hispanic (75.2%), were married/in a relationship (66.4%), employed (58.3%), and well educated (79.3% attended some college or above). On average, participants were in their second trimester (M=16.5 weeks, SD=9.7). Despite the fact that a majority of participants did not meet criteria for a current or lifetime major depressive episode (71.6%), 73.4% indicated that they had experienced depression during this or previous pregnancies, but did not seek help/support (54.4%) or information from the web (57.2%) to help cope with changes in their mood. Retention rates and levels of engagement with the intervention will be presented once data collection is complete. Conclusions: Technology-based tools are a viable method to have a global impact on at-risk individuals. Few studies have reported on the use of technology to prevent postpartum depression. This study demonstrates that pregnant women are interested in using Internet resources to manage their mood. However, there is much that remains to be learned from using these innovative techniques if we want to retain and engage pregnant women in prevention trials.