The effects of depressive symptom management interventions on low‐income mothers: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

AIM: To evaluate the effects of depressive symptom management interventions (DSMI) for low-income mothers. BACKGROUND: Depressive symptoms and depression are common complications following childbirth. Depressive symptoms experienced by low-income mothers negatively affect infant-toddler development. DESIGN: A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to provide a synthesized and critical appraisal of the included studies. DATA SOURCES: We conducted a systematic search of randomized controlled trials in the following electronic databases through November 2017: PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycInfo, and Cochrane Library CENTRAL. REVIEW METHODS: Ten studies were found in the systematic review of DSMI in terms of content, mode of delivery, session, and provider. We then conducted a meta-analysis of nine randomized controlled trials with 798 participants, comparing low-income mothers with and without DSMI. RESULTS: A significant effect was noted for DSMI in improving depressive symptoms in low-income mothers with young children and for interventions lasting 8 weeks or less. CONCLUSION: The meta-analysis suggested that DSMI for low-income mothers can be effective; however, the effectiveness varies by intervention type, intervention duration, and whether the mothers had other children. IMPACT: The findings of this study will contribute to the development of effective DSMI by providing scientific evidence for the development of such programmes for low-income mothers, especially with respect to target population and intervention duration.