title: The effect of telephone support on postpartum depression: a randomized controlled trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Postpartum depression is a common disorder. Systematic reviews emphasized the need to conduct more trials about interventions to prevent postpartum depression. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of postpartum telephone support on maternal depression.
  
  
  METHODS
  366 postpartum women with no history of known depression were randomly assigned into control (244 subjects) and intervention (122 subjects) groups. The control group received only routine postpartum care. In the intervention group, telephone support was provided twice in the first week and once a week during the second to sixth week of postpartum by a trained midwife in addition to the routine care. In order to meet their unpredicted needs, the mothers could contact the consultant 24 hours a day. Postpartum depression was assessed using the self-administered Edinburgh Depression Scale at 60 to 65 days of postpartum. Mothers with scores of 13 and above were considered to have depression. Logistic regression and Student's t-test were used for the data analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was no significant difference regarding frequency of depression between the intervention and control groups (29.9% vs. 31.6%; Odds ratio 0.91, 95% CI 0.56 to 1.49). Mean of depression score was not significantly different between the groups [9.2 (6.1) vs. 10.4 (5.8); mean difference -1.19, 95%CI -2.5 to 0.13].
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study did not provide evidence to show that telephone support of a midwife during postpartum period have a preventive effect on postpartum depression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Midwifery, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Sakineh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mohammad-Alizadeh-Charandabi
authors.affiliation: Department of Midwifery, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Jamileh
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Malakoti
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Allameh Tabatabai University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Faramarz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sohrabi
authors.affiliation: Students' Research Committee, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Nafiseh
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shokranian
keywords: Midwife; Postpartum depression; Support; Telephone