The Impact of Creative Interventions on Symptoms of Postnatal Depression

Post-natal depression (PND) is anticipated to affect 12.9% of new mothers with at least 75,000 cases per year in the UK alone. However, despite this, there is currently a worrying lack of support for new mothers, with data suggesting that 64% of healthcare trusts in the UK do not have a strategy for treating postnatal depression, and flaws in the current pharmacological and psychological treatment models. Consequently, research into promising psychosocial interventions such as music is critical to developing new paradigms for treating postnatal depression. This project is an ambitious programme of research that investigates the effects of music on postnatal depression through two phases: a questionnaire study and an intervention study. This record is for the intervention study. The questionnaire study has a separate record. We are accepting host hospital sites for both.

The study tests the effectiveness of singing interventions led by the Royal College of Music at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital as a psychosocial tool to reduce the occurrence and effects of postnatal depression. It triangulates psychological, physiological, and biological data in a randomised control design to provide a comprehensive insight into the intervention's effects in comparison to a more common psychosocial intervention for new mothers (play groups) and a control group of no psychosocial interventions. The study aims to recruit 50-80 women into each of the three interventions (150-240 total). The study will used a mixed-method methodology comprising validated psychological scales, in-depth qualitative interviews and observations and biomarker analysis. If results are promising, there are plans in place to scale the singing intervention to more hospitals and community settings. Phase B will be open to NHS sites within the region of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital London from which women could travel to the sessions to take part.

Participants take part in 10 weeks of group play activities for one hour per week with their baby in a community setting alongside any usual care they may be receiving.

Participants take part in 10 weeks of group singing activities for one hour per week with their baby in a community setting alongside any usual care they may be receiving.

Sessions will be led by a professional practitioner assisted by students from the Royal College of Music. Participants will learn songs with their babies and help to create new musical material together.

Sessions will be led by a professional practitioner assisted by students from the Royal College of Music. Participants will take part in group play activities.

Inclusion Criteria: Women who have a child up to 9 months old Symptoms suggestive of PND at a minimum score of 10 on the EPDS Exclusion Criteria: Outside the limits of the number of weeks pregnant/post birth Living outside England Refusal to participants

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Perkins R, Yorke S, Fancourt D. How group singing facilitates recovery from the symptoms of postnatal depression: a comparative qualitative study. BMC Psychol. 2018 Aug 17;6(1):41. doi: 10.1186/s40359-018-0253-0.

Fancourt D, Perkins R. Effect of singing interventions on symptoms of postnatal depression: three-arm randomised controlled trial. Br J Psychiatry. 2018 Feb;212(2):119-121. doi: 10.1192/bjp.2017.29.