Meta-Analysis
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatr. Apr 19, 2021; 11(4): 133-152
Published online Apr 19, 2021. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v11.i4.133
Effectiveness of digital psychotherapeutic intervention among perinatal women: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
Ying Lau, Jing-Ying Cheng, Sai-Ho Wong, Kai-Yoong Yen, Ling-Jie Cheng
Ying Lau, Jing-Ying Cheng, Sai-Ho Wong, Kai-Yoong Yen, Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117597, Singapore
Ling-Jie Cheng, Nursing Research Unit, Department of Nursing, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, Yishun Health Campus, National Healthcare Group, Singapore 768828, Singapore
Author contributions: Lau Y conceived and guided the study; Cheng JY, Wong SH and Yen KY carried out the literature searches; Cheng JY and Yen KY extracted the data; Cheng JY and Yen KY assessed the study quality; Lau Y, Wong SH, and Cheng LJ performed the statistical analysis; Lau Y wrote the manuscript; Lau Y, Cheng JY, Wong SH, Yen KY and Cheng LJ revised the manuscript.
Supported by Ministry of Education Academic Research Fund (AcRF) Tier 1, No. NUHSRO/2017/054/T1.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ying Lau, BSc, MSN, PhD, RN, Associate Professor, Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Block MD 11, Level 2, 10 Medical Drive, Singapore 117597, Singapore. nurly@nus.edu.sg
Received: December 30, 2020
Peer-review started: December 30, 2020
First decision: January 11, 2021
Revised: January 11, 2021
Accepted: March 10, 2021
Article in press: March 10, 2021
Published online: April 19, 2021
Core Tip

Core Tip: This systematic review identified and analyzed the findings of 25 randomized controlled trials, and the results indicated that digital psychotherapeutic intervention could significantly reduce depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms among perinatal women. The essential features of this intervention were a website platform with ≥ eight therapist-guided sessions using the cognitive behavioral therapy theoretical principle. This intervention was also effective in reducing depression symptoms when treating young postnatal women. The overall evidence grade of outcomes was very low according to the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation criteria. Thus, future trials need to include a high-quality design and a large sample size.