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STUDY PROTOCOL article

Front. Public Health

Sec. Public Mental Health

Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1630303

This article is part of the Research TopicThe influence of Internet and technology on mental health and psychological adjustment of young adultsView all 15 articles

Efficacy of Internet-based peer education for postpartum depression: Study protocol of a Randomized Controlled Trial

Provisionally accepted
Yumei  ZhouYumei Zhou*Xiao-Wan  XiongXiao-Wan XiongHan  ZhouHan ZhouXiao-Ming  MaXiao-Ming MaBing  YanBing YanJiang-Ning  QiuJiang-Ning QiuXiao-Yi  ChenXiao-Yi ChenLiu-Juan  ZhangLiu-Juan ZhangYan-Fang  WeiYan-Fang WeiXiao-Bing  ZhengXiao-Bing ZhengLin-Qing  LiLin-Qing LiShao-Jun  ChenShao-Jun ChenYin-Li  XuYin-Li XuSi-Yi  HanSi-Yi HanYu-Fen  LinYu-Fen LinYu-Qin  XuYu-Qin Xu*Yan-Hua  GouYan-Hua Gou*
  • Shenzhen Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Shenzhen ,Guangdong, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Introduction: Postpartum depression (PPD) is widely and profoundly affecting family and social stability. But now the consultation rate of overall PPD population is still not ideal for practical reasons. This study observes the effectiveness of Internet-based peer education, a promising treatment approach that may effectively and fairly serve the PPD group, so as to benefit more people in the future. Objectives:This study integrates internet-based peer education to serve PPD groups effectively and equitably, aiming to benefit more people. It explores IPE's efficacy vs RHE in reducing symptom severity at 6-week intervention and 16-week follow-up. Methods: This study is a randomized, parallel, and controlled trial, consist of a 6-week treatment period along with a 12-week follow-up period. 88 patients diagnosed as PPD will be recruited. They will be randomly assigned to one of two groups, internet-based peer education (IPE) group and regular health education (RHE) group, in a 1:1 ratio. Both groups will receive RHE along the 6-week treatment, while subjects in IPE group will receive 6-week online peer education additionally. The primary outcome is the response rate based on scores of 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale at the week 6 and 12. The secondary outcomes include Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS), World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale Brief (WHOQOL-BREF) and Self-Efficacy to Manage Chronic Disease Scale (SEMCD). All these scales will be evaluated at baseline, 1, 2, 4, 6 and 12 weeks after the initiation of intervention. Conclusion: The results of this RCT on Internet-based peer education for postpartum depression will provide an assessment of the feasibility of the protocol and data for power calculations to inform the development of a larger scale trial. Ethics and dissemination: This protocol has been ethically approved by the local medical ethical committee (No. K2023-029-01) and complies with the Declaration of Helsinki and principles of Good Clinical Practice. Informed consent is obtained before study enrolment and only coded data will be stored in a secured database. Notably, participants will not be compensated for their work, time spent, or travel expenses incurred during the study period.

Keywords: Internet-based1, Peer Education2, postpartum depression3, Randomized ControlledTria4, Protoco5

Received: 17 May 2025; Accepted: 05 Sep 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Zhou, Xiong, Zhou, Ma, Yan, Qiu, Chen, Zhang, Wei, Zheng, Li, Chen, Xu, Han, Lin, Xu and Gou. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Yumei Zhou, Shenzhen Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Shenzhen ,Guangdong, China
Yu-Qin Xu, Shenzhen Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Shenzhen ,Guangdong, China
Yan-Hua Gou, Shenzhen Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Shenzhen ,Guangdong, China

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