Trial reportBMC pregnancy and childbirth2025
The mental health benefit of a community-based home-visiting program for prenatal women: evidence from a randomized controlled trial in China.
Trial report in BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMaternal mental health is a global concern including in China. However, evidence on early prevention of maternal mental health problems in low- and middle-income countries is scarcely reported. This study sought to assess the effectiveness of a community-based home-visiting program facilitated by local Community Health Workers (CHWs) in rural areas of western China.
methodsThis study used randomized controlled trial, 592 pregnant women in the sample were randomly divided into treatment group and control group, and pregnant women in the treatment group received home visits from community health workers(CHWs).The main outcome was the mental health of pregnant women, which was measured using the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21). Average treatment effect analysis and local treatment effect analysis were used to analyze the effects of the CHWs’ home-visiting intervention on maternal mental health.
resultsThe regression analysis showed that the home-visiting intervention did not have a positive impact on maternal mental health in rural areas. However, the effects of the intervention varied depending on family support. Specifically, when the husband accompanies antenatal care, the home-visiting intervention had a significant positive effect, reducing maternal depression and stress tendency scores by 0.1 and 2.14 points respectively (10% significance level). Additionally, for pregnant women with a satisfactory relationship with their husbands, the intervention reduced their depression scores by 0.61 and anxiety scores by 0.52 (10% significance level).
conclusionsThe interventions were not effective in improving the mental health of pregnant women on average. However, when pregnant women received greater family support and had a satisfying marital relationship, the interventions had a significant positive impact. Therefore, optimizing the design of the Community Health Worker (CHW) home-visiting intervention is essential to enhance its effectiveness.
trial registrationRegistration number ISRCTN98898991.Registered 26/03/2019.
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