None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
For most women, childbirth is a significant life event that can be associated with a range of emotional responses, from joy and relief for some, but trauma and distress for others. A traumatic childbirth experience, sometimes referred to as ‘birth trauma’ lead to poor mental health outcomes in postpartum women, severely impacting mother-infant attachment, child development, and overall mental health of the family unit. The current project will be the first intervention for postpartum mothers with recent traumatic birth experiences, to decrease serious and persistent mental health concerns. This project will assess the feasibility and acceptability of a highly innovative telehealth group-based early intervention for this vulnerable population group.
Interventions
The intervention consists of six psychotherapy sessions based on the trauma narrative recovery model developed by Lane and Lane (2018). The six-session model comprises psychological treatment that is Narrative-Informed and therapist-guided psychotherapy inclusive of interactive activities covering key themed modules of loss of agency, grief, feelings of self-blame, shame, anger, feelings of powerlessness, fragmentation and integration of memories, that are associated with trauma. The interventio
The intervention consists of six psychotherapy sessions based on the trauma narrative recovery model developed by Lane and Lane (2018). The six-session model comprises psychological treatment that is Narrative-Informed and therapist-guided psychotherapy inclusive of interactive activities covering key themed modules of loss of agency, grief, feelings of self-blame, shame, anger, feelings of powerlessness, fragmentation and integration of memories, that are associated with trauma. The intervention will be delivered by a registered Clinical Psychologist, via telehealth, in group format, once per week for six weeks, and each of the six treatment sessions will last between 60 to 90 minutes each. Groups are expected to be between 4 and 8 participants. An attendance and adherence record will be kept to quantify the number of sessions attended for each participant.
Sponsors
The Peregrine Centre
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Other
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Women residing in the Hunter New England Local Health District, up to 6 months postpartum, aged 18 years and above, Australian resident, proficient in English, and who subjectively report having had a traumatic birth experience with their most recent birth. Women should have also had a live birth with a gestation of at least 34+ completed weeks.
Exclusion criteria
Women residing outside of the Hunter New England Local Health District will be excluded, as will women who are nulliparous, pregnant or more than 6 months postpartum, under 18 years of age, not an Australian resident, not proficient in English, and who do not subjectively report having had a traumatic birth experience with their most recent birth. Women will also be excluded if their most recent delivery involved a still birth or a live birth with a gestation of under 34 weeks. Women who endorse item 10 on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (an item about suicidal ideation), or who have a total score of more than 13 will also be excluded from the study and appropriate referrals will be made to Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Services (PIMHS). Women with serious mental health concerns that impinge on their ability to provide informed consent (e.g., have an intense mood or psychotic episode associated with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia) will be excluded from the study (and appropriate referrals made where relevant).
Outcome results
None listed