AUTHOR=Fonseca Ana , Monteiro Fabiana , Alves Stephanie , Gorayeb Ricardo , Canavarro Maria Cristina 

TITLE=Be a Mom, a Web-Based Intervention to Prevent Postpartum Depression: The Enhancement of Self-Regulatory Skills and Its Association With Postpartum Depressive Symptoms

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00265

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00265

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Aim:</bold> Be a Mom is a self-guided, web-based intervention to prevent persistent postpartum depression symptoms [PPD], targeting both at-risk postpartum women and/or women presenting early-onset postpartum depressive symptoms (selective/indicated preventive intervention). Be a Mom is grounded on the principles of Cognitive-Behavior Therapy and incorporates the recent contributions of acceptance and compassion-based approaches (third-wave approaches) applied to the perinatal context. This study aimed to explore the processes underlying therapeutic change in the Be a Mom intervention, by: (1) exploring whether participation in the Be a Mom promotes the enhancement of self-regulatory skills (emotion regulation abilities, psychological flexibility and self-compassion) in comparison with women who did not participate in the program; and (2) exploring whether changes in self-regulatory skills are associated with changes in depressive symptoms, among women who participated in the Be a Mom program.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> A pilot randomized, two-arm controlled trial was conducted. Eligible women (presenting PPD risk-factors and/or early-onset PPD symptoms) were enrolled in the study and were randomly assigned to the intervention group (Be a Mom, <italic>n</italic> = 98) or to the waiting-list control group (<italic>n</italic> = 96). Participants in both groups completed baseline (T1) and post-intervention assessments (T2), including measures of depressive symptoms, emotion regulation abilities, psychological flexibility and self-compassion.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> From baseline to post-intervention assessment, women in the intervention group showed a significantly greater decrease in the levels of emotion regulation difficulties (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001) and a significant greater increase in the levels of self-compassion (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001) compared to the control group. No significant differences were found concerning psychological flexibility. Moreover, a greater decrease in difficulties in emotion regulation and greater increase in self-compassion levels were significantly associated with a greater decrease in depressive symptoms, among women in the intervention group.</p><p><bold>Discussion:</bold> Be a Mom promotes the enhancement of women’s emotion regulation abilities and self-compassion, and this seems to exert a protective effect in the presence of PPD risk factors (or early-onset symptoms) because it led to a reduction of depressive symptoms. By providing some insights into the processes that underlie treatment response to Be a Mom, this study highlights the important role of the targeted third-wave processes applied to the perinatal context.</p>