Abstract:

Objective To systematically assess the effect of lay-delivered group psychotherapy （LGP） in China on perinatal depression（PND）. Methods Databases at home and abroad were searched from their establishment to November 1，2022 for randomized clinical trials（RCTs） of lay-delivered group psychotherapy for PND of China（The experimental group adopted lay-delivered group psychotherapy，and the control group has no restrictions on intervention measures）. Two researchers screened the literature，extracted data and evaluated the quality，and conducted data analysis independently. Results A total of 20 RCTs with 3，085 participants were included. The results of Meta-analyses indicated that experimental group had lower PND score than control group[SMD=-1.38，95%CI（-1.76， -0.99），P<0.001] at the end of the intervention. Compared with the control group，the experimental group had lower anxiety symptom score[SMD=-1.52，95%CI（-2.72，-0.32），P=0.013]，less total labor time[SMD=-1.93，95%CI（-2.45，-1.40）， P<0.001]，higher rates of vaginal birth[RR=1.70，95%CI（1.42，2.05），P<0.001]，and higher quality of life score[SMD=0.82，95%CI（0.39，1.25），P<0.001]. Conclusion LGP can effectively relieve PND，and may become one of effective measures to prevent and treat PND in areas with limited mental health resources in China. The sample size of the existing LGP studies is small，and most of them are short-term effect. More RCTs with high quality，large samples，and long-term follow-up should be carried out in the future to further verify the intervention effect of LGP on PND.

Key words: Peripartum Period, Depression，Postpartum, Evidence-Based Nursing, Lay-delivered group psychotherapy, Systematic review