Interventions for decreasing postpartum depression among adolescent mothers : an integrative literature review

Abstract

It is suggested that adolescent mothers experience postpartum depression (PPD) at a higher rate than compared to adult mothers (Deal & Holt, 1998). With early detection and proper treatment the effects that PPD has on both maternal and child wellbeing can be reduced (Lanzi et al., 2009). However, at this time the most effective intervention for treating or preventing PPD among adolescent mothers is unknown (Yozwiak, 2010). This integrative literature review was conducted in the hopes of determining an effective intervention used to either prevent or treat PPD among adolescent mothers. The literature search included a total of three strategies: electronic database, hand search, and networking, in which nine articles met inclusion criteria and were utilized in the final review. Only articles that met all of the inclusion criteria and that were from scholarly journals were chosen to be included in the review process. After reviewing the included literature, no clear themes emerged indicating the most effective interventions for reducing or treating depressive symptoms in adolescent mothers. Reviewing the findings from these studies did not produce a clear understanding of one particular intervention that can help prevent or treat PPD in adolescent mothers. However, the four studies that showed a decrease in CES-D scores all utilized a type of intervention that offered the adolescents more contact (either direct or indirect) with trained personnel. There is a lack of literature on this topic, and much more research is needed to determine the best intervention for treating and preventing PPD among these young mothers.