Effects of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) on depression in pregnant women: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

We synthesized the effects of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) on depression in pregnant women. Ten electronic databases were searched from inception to September 2022. We reviewed studies on outcomes for pregnant women with depression receiving mindfulness-based interventions. We only reviewed studies written in English. A random-effects model was used to compute the effect size. Funnel plot, Q statistics, and I 2 were used to test the heterogeneity across studies. We examined moderators to explore sources of heterogeneity. Across 19 included studies (N = 1480), 717 pregnant women participated in mindfulness interventions; 763 served as controls. Mean age ranged from 25.3 to 33.6 years. Overall, mindfulness-based interventions showed reduced depression compared to control groups (g = 0.457, 95%CI 0.254, 0.659, I 2 = 68 %). With subgroup analysis, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy had a greater effect on reducing depressive symptoms (g = 1.13) than mindfulness-based stress reduction (g = 0.64) and adapted mindfulness-based interventions (g = 0.31). No quality indicators moderated the ES of mindfulness-based interventions on depression. Mindfulness-based interventions significantly improved depression among pregnant women, especially mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT). Clinicians and health providers should consider using MBIs as alternative complementary treatment for improving and preventing depression in pregnant women. What is already known about the topic? • Depression is a common psychological problem that affects pregnant women worldwide. • Although antidepressants, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), and psychotherapy may be effective for the treatment of depression in pregnant women, some researchers found that these treatments had a negative impact on fetuses and infants. What this paper adds. • Mindfulness-based intervention (MBIs) had significantly moderate effects to reduce depression in pregnant women compared to controls. • Providing MBCT had a greater effect on reducing depressive symptoms than providing MBSR and adapted MBI. • MBIs might be used as alternative to conventional treatment for pregnant women with depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]