Partners can during the transition to parenthood be understood as a system under stress. Focusing on one of the partners is not ideal as partner-related factors are associated with postpartum depression. With postpartum depression being a huge risk for the wellbeing of the partners and the baby, both partners should be included in preventative interventions to ensure best possible outcome for the families.
The aim of this review is to synthesize the literature on preventative interventions targeting postpartum depression on both partners.
Databases were systematically searched to identify both qualitative and quantitative literature describing interventions designed to prevent postnatal depression in both partners. Ten studies met the inclusion criteria. Several themes were identified using a thematic approach, here all articles were concerned with prevalence of postnatal depression and educational interventions. Eight articles mentioned risk factors and predictors, and eight were concerned with protective factors. The variability of the studies makes it impossible and irrelevant to evaluate on overall effectiveness of the interventions. The only general conclusion to be made regarding effectiveness is that none of the interventions has reported or concluded significant effective measures of preventing postpartum depression in both partners. The aim was simply to explore the current status of interventions to prevent postnatal depression amongst partners. The review highlights a need for further research on the development of new interventions aiming to prevent postpartum depression in both partners which are accessible for health professionals to implement – as well as future research on the effectiveness of partner inclusive interventions versus interventions only including one partner.
This thesis also contains an intervention for professionals on prevention on postpartum depression in partners based on the findings in the systematic review. This is an easy to implement step-by-step guide with handout material for the participants.
Additionally, the thesis includes material on strategies for partner prevention for perinatal depression and anxiety, which has been translated and modified to fit the Danish context.