The Effect of Home- Visiting on Perinatal Depression

Abstract

Objective: Maternal mental health disorders are a leading complication of childbirth. While few procedures are in place to adequately treat depression, women experiencing perinatal depression may benefit from the intervention of home visiting. The intent of home visiting interventions is to alleviate stressors of new motherhood. Thus, the aim of this scoping review is to investigate existing literature of home visiting and its effects on perinatal depression, in an attempt to determine the relationship between these two factors. Methods: We conducted a scoping review of existing literature relevant to perinatal depression and home visiting. We entered over fifty keywords in five search databases: PubMed, PsycInfo, Cinahl, Social Work Abstracts, and Google Scholar. All relevant literature was reviewed within the relevant time frame of 1997- 2018. Duplicates, books, and erratum’s were discarded from the study. Results concluded that home visiting is a low- cost, highly transferable intervention that yields merit as a treatment plan for maternal mental health globally. Results: There were 12,646 records identified through database searching. After duplicates were discarded, the titles of 2,134 articles were assessed for applicability. Ninety- nine records underwent further analysis in abstract searching and thirty- three full- text articles were reviewed for eligibility. All applicable studies will be included in this analysis. Implications: This presentation will share the results from the scoping review and describe the use of home visiting to improve perinatal mental health.