Effect of Health Care as the “Home Visiting” on Postpartum Depression: A Controlled Clinical Trial

BACKGROUND Postpartum depression is considered as a major health complication of women after delivery. It is necessary to find an essential approach for the prevention of its serious consequences on mothers' and infants' health. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of home visiting on postpartum depression. METHODS The first stage of study was the design of postpartum package. According to the package, a clinical trial was performed for 276 mothers who had delivered in affiliated hospitals of Shahid Beheshti University in 2013 and were divided into two groups, i.e., control group and intervention group. Intervention group received health care by home visiting, and control group had no intervention. Mothers were supposed to fill up Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale before and 60 days after delivery, and the results were compared. The data were analyzed by SPSS version 18 software and t-test, Chi-square, and logistic regression test. RESULTS The mean ages of participants were 27.03 ± 5.2 standard deviation (SD) in intervention group and 27.37 ± 5.4 SD in control group. Occurrence of depression was 7.6% in intervention group and 19% in control group, and there was a significant difference between two groups (P < 0.05). The logistic regression results indicate that groups (intervention and control) (P = 0.087, odds ratio [OR] =2.1); planned and unplanned pregnancy (P = 0.028, OR = 2.5) and the infant nutrition (P = 0.025, OR = 2.2) are significantly associated with the postpartum depression. CONCLUSIONS Providing postpartum home visiting can influence postpartum depression in a positive way and could improve mothers' and infants' health.