Randomised controlled trial of facilitated exercise plus usual care versus usual care only as a treatment for women with a depressive disorder in the first six postnatal months

ABSTRACT FROM: Daley AJ, Blamey RV, Jolly K, et al . A pragmatic randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a facilitated exercise intervention as a treatment for postnatal depression: the PAM-PeRS trial. Psychol Med 2015;45:2413–25. Up to 10% of women have a depressive disorder in the first 6 months after birth.1 Many mothers are not effectively treated, largely due to reluctance to accept medication at this time and limited availability of timely psychological treatment.1 Physical activity is a potential intervention for postnatal depression (PND). However, evidence is limited to a few small, low-quality studies that suggest facilitated exercise has a modest beneficial effect on the prevention of PND and no statistically or clinically meaningful effect on the treatment of PND.2 This was a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of facilitated exercise (two face-to-face sessions with an exercise facilitator and two support phone calls over 6 months) plus usual …