JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Prenatal mental health is a global concern. Despite the far-reaching impact of prenatal mental health issues, many women do not receive the psychological care they require. Women in their childbearing years are frequent users of the internet and smartphone apps. Prenatal women are prime candidates for internet-based support for mental health care.

Objective:

The aim of this study is to examine the feasibility and acceptability of internet-based Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) for pregnant women.

Methods:

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with women who had received internet-based IPT with guided support as a component of a randomized controlled trial evaluating the scale-up implementation of a digital mental health platform for pregnant women (The HOPE Digital Platform). A qualitative content analysis and thematic analysis was employed to explore and describe women’s experiences. The data were analyzed for emerging themes which were identified and coded.

Results:

A total of 15 prenatal women were interviewed to examine their experiences and their views towards the feasibility and acceptability of internet-based IPT. Participants found the content of the internet-based IPT modules informative and appreciated the ways that the Web-App platform had been made accessible to users. Participants provided suggestions regarding the depth and way information should be presented and accessed on the Web-App. The important areas for improvement that were identified were acknowledging greater depth and clarity of content, need for sociability/relationships, and refinement of the Web-App to a smartphone app.

Conclusions:

This study provides useful evidence about the treatment format and content preferences that can inform future development. It also provides research data for the feasibility and acceptability of web-based applications for prenatal mental healthcare. Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01901796