Farrell, Derek

Gillen, Patricia

Klaus, Phyllis

Mc Cullough, Julie

Miller, Paula

Shapiro, Elan

Sinclair, Marlene

Slater, Paul F

Taylor Miller, P. G.

English

Background: One in 10 women experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at fourto six weeks following birth, with rates of 15.7 per cent in high-risk populations. PTSD ishighly comorbid with other mental health conditions, and an expanding evidence basehas identified that symptoms of PTSD and accompanying comorbidities have a detrimentaleffect on women, infants and the family system.Objectives: This protocol will guide a systematic literature review and meta-analysisthat aims to estimate the effect of early interventions on PTSD and post-traumaticstress symptoms in women following a traumatic birth. The protocol follows the PICOSframework.Methods: There will be no limitation on the geographical location in which the studiesare conducted. The population of interest are pregnant and postpartum women who haveexperienced a traumatic birth. Experimental interventions include any early psychologicalintervention delivered within three months of a traumatic birth experience as secondaryprevention, or before birth as primary prevention. Usual care or any active intervention willbe included as comparator interventions. The primary outcome is post-traumatic stressdisorder or post-traumatic stress symptoms. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) or pilotstudies will be included in the review.Results: Eleven electronic databases will be searched, data will be extracted, and metaanalysis will be conducted in Review Manager 5. Heterogeneity between studies will bemeasured by the I² test and Chi-squared test. Risk of bias assessments will be conducted inaccordance with the criteria outlined in the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews ofinterventions. Strength of evidence will be evaluated by the Grading of Recommendations,Assessment, Development and Evaluations (GRADE) approach. Five reviewers will discussstudy selection, data extraction and quality assessment. Results will be synthesised toformative narrative summary if there is insufficient data to conduct meta-analysis.Conclusions: This protocol explains the methodology of a systematic literature review andmeta-analysis of early psychological interventions in preventing PTSD and traumatic stresssymptoms in women following a traumatic birth. Protocol development has been informedby the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocolsguidance (PRISMA-P).<br/

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Early psychological interventions for prevention and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and post-traumatic stress symptoms in post-partum women: a systematic review and meta-analysis protocol

https://pure.ulster.ac.uk/files/101656951/Final_published_version_protocol_systematic_review_Miller_et_al_EBM_June_2022_2.pdf

Early psychological interventions for prevention and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and post-traumatic stress symptoms in post-partum women: a systematic review and meta-analysis protocol

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