Digital Behavioral Activation Interventions During the Perinatal Period: Scoping Review
Bibliographic record
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Pregnancy is a complex period that implies many biopsychosocial changes, and the way women adapt to these changes impacts their well-being and the chances of developing mental health problems. During the perinatal period, women have expressed a preference for support delivered on the web. In this regard, interventions such as behavioral activation (BA), which are brief and structured psychosocial interventions, seem particularly suited to be delivered through digital solutions. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to map the literature investigating digital BA interventions deployed during the perinatal period. We paid particular attention to the methodological underpinnings of the studies, the potential impact of BA interventions on symptoms other than depression, and the existence of differences occurring when these interventions were administered during pregnancy versus the postpartum period. METHODS: A systematic search compliant with the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis extension for Scoping Reviews) guidelines was conducted considering 5 bibliographic databases; reference lists and key journals were also screened by 2 independent authors following a double-blind approach. RESULTS: A total of 7 studies published between 2013 and 2022 were included. In total, 2 studies were protocols for randomized controlled trials, 5 were empirical studies, and 1 was a qualitative study. All studies focused on the postpartum period, except for 1 that focused on the broader perinatal period. Promising effects on depression symptoms were reported but not on other psychosocial symptoms. Low intervention adherence has emerged, whereas the usability associated with the digital means used to deploy interventions was scarcely addressed; moreover, information on the digital platforms used was poorly reported overall. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings highlight the scarcity and preliminary nature of digital BA interventions deployed during the perinatal period, where the focus seems more on treatment rather than prevention. Moreover, future studies should also consider and address usability and user engagement, given their relevance to intervention efficacy.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.015 | 0.067 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.008 | 0.007 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.017 | 0.018 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.005 | 0.003 |
| Open science | 0.003 | 0.003 |
| Research integrity | 0.003 | 0.002 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.007 | 0.001 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".