Effectiveness of peer support interventions in improving mothers' psychosocial well‐being during the perinatal period: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

BACKGROUND: Many mothers experience poor psychological outcomes during their perinatal period. The presence of depression and anxiety has a significant adverse impact on the mother's health and the infant's development. AIM: This review aimed to examine the effectiveness of peer support interventions in improving depression, anxiety, and perceived social support among mothers during the perinatal period. METHODS: This study was a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. The reporting of this review was guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020. Cochrane's Risk of Bias Tool for randomized controlled trials was used to examine the methodological quality of the included studies. The certainty of the evidence was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. A comprehensive search was conducted from inception till May 2024 across seven databases: Pubmed, Scopus, CINAHL, Web of Science, ProQuest, PsycINFO, and Embase. RESULTS: The results of the meta-analysis of the 12 included studies showed that peer support interventions could reduce depression and anxiety levels but not perceived social support levels. Sub-group analyses based on the mode of intervention delivery showed significant reductions on depression levels in online and face-to-face groups but not telephone call groups. Follow-up data analyses showed that peer support interventions could improve depression, anxiety, and perceived social support across a duration of 1-6 months post-intervention. LINKING EVIDENCE TO ACTION: This review provides a deeper understanding of the effect of peer support interventions on mothers in the perinatal period. This can have a positive impact on current knowledge aimed at improving the well-being of mothers and thus, their infants, partners, and entire family unit. Findings showed that peer support interventions can positively improve psychological well-being of mothers in the perinatal period in the short and long term. Peer support can ultimately be considered as a standardized part of perinatal care. Future recommendations include implementing a combination of face-to-face and online approaches to peer support interventions delivered with both individual and group components.