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mHealth and Perinatal Depression in Low-and Middle-Income Countries: A Scoping Review of the Literature

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  • Aliyah Dosani

    (School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Health, Community and Education, Mount Royal University, Calgary, AB T3E 6K6, Canada
    Department of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada
    O’Brien Institute for Public Health, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada)

  • Harshmeet Arora

    (Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada)

  • Sahil Mazmudar

    (Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada)

Abstract

Women in low- and middle-income countries have high rates of perinatal depression. As smartphones become increasingly accessible around the world, there is an opportunity to explore innovative mHealth tools for the prevention, screening, and management of perinatal depression. We completed a scoping review of the literature pertaining to the use of mobile phone technologies for perinatal depression in low-and middle-income countries. PubMed CINHAL, and Google Scholar databases were searched, generating 423 results. 12 articles met our inclusion criteria. Two of the 12 articles reviewed mobile phone applications. The remaining 9 articles were study protocols or descriptive/intervention studies. Our results reveal that minimal literature is currently available on the use of mobile health for perinatal depression in low- and middle-income countries. We found four articles that present the results of an intervention that were delivered through mobile phones for the treatment of perinatal depressive symptoms and an additional qualitative study describing the perceptions of mothers receiving cognitive behavioral therapy via telephones. These studies demonstrated that depressive symptoms improved after the interventions. There is potential to improve the quality of mHealth interventions, specifically mobile phone applications for perinatal depressive symptoms and depression, through meaningful collaborative work between healthcare professionals and application developers.

Suggested Citation

  • Aliyah Dosani & Harshmeet Arora & Sahil Mazmudar, 2020. "mHealth and Perinatal Depression in Low-and Middle-Income Countries: A Scoping Review of the Literature," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-18, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:20:p:7679-:d:432328
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Julia A Dalton & Dianne Rodger & Michael Wilmore & Sal Humphreys & Andrew Skuse & Claire T Roberts & Vicki L Clifton, 2018. "The Health-e Babies App for antenatal education: Feasibility for socially disadvantaged women," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(5), pages 1-18, May.
    2. Fei Wan Ngai & Pui Sze Chan, 2019. "A Qualitative Evaluation of Telephone-Based Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Postpartum Mothers," Clinical Nursing Research, , vol. 28(7), pages 852-868, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Xiangmin Tan & Yuqing He & Nan Hua & James Wiley & Mei Sun, 2022. "Study Protocol of an App-Based Prevention Program for Perinatal Depression," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-9, September.

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