Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of an electronic mindfulness-based intervention for maternal mental health in the peripartum: A randomised controlled trial

A Mindfulness App will be available to the intervention group. The Mater Parent Lounge app is a perinatal mindfulness-based app, co-designed by women with a lived experience of perinatal mental illness, and clinicians with expertise in mindfulness. The content on the app will consist of 40 mindfulness podcasts, tailored to different stages in the pre- (second trimester) and post-partum period (6 months after birth). Women will therefore take part in the study from 16 weeks gestation to 6 months postpartum (approximately 11 months in total, dependent on which gestation week participants' give birth). The content of the app has been co-designed by a working group of clinicians, peer workers, and consumer advocates (women who have previous lived experiences of perinatal mental health issues). The podcasts brief (5-10 minute) videos that take women through a range of mindfulness exercises, such as breathing exercises, visualisation, body scanning, guided interaction with baby, guided meditation and other grounding techniques. Acceptability of the content was determined by all members of the co-design working group over a series of meetings. The app will notify women with suggestions of appropriate (pregnancy-period specific) podcasts on a regular basis. Women may choose to watch the suggested podcasts, or search for other podcasts when they wish to utilise them. Women will be free to use these podcasts as often as they wish for the study period, and beyond. For the study period, they will be asked to utilise the app a minimum of once a week to determine its benefit. Click analytics will be used to measure the frequency of app use, and to determine which podcasts are the most used. Daily 'mood' data will also be collected from the app using a five point faces scale (happy face to sad face).