Effectiveness of the Antenatal Psychosocial Health Assessment (ALPHA) form in detecting psychosocial concerns: a randomized controlled trial. Pragmatic randomized trial of antenatal intervention to prevent post-natal depression by reducing psychosocial risk factors.
A pregnant woman's psychological health is a significant predictor of postpartum outcomes. The Antenatal Psychosocial Health Assessment (ALPHA) form incorporates 15 risk factors associated with poor postpartum outcomes of woman abuse, child abuse, postpartum depression and couple dysfunction. We sought to determine whether health care providers using the ALPHA form detected more antenatal psychosocial concerns among pregnant women than providers practising usual prenatal care.
                A randomized controlled trial was conducted in 4 communities in Ontario. Family physicians, obstetricians and midwives who see at least 10 prenatal patients a year enrolled 5 eligible women each. Providers in the intervention group attended an educational workshop on using the ALPHA form and completed the form with enrolled women. The control group provided usual care. After the women delivered, both groups of providers identified concerns related to the 15 risk factors on the ALPHA form for each patient and rated the level of concern. The primary outcome was the number of psychosocial concerns identified. Results were controlled for clustering.
                There were 21 (44%) providers randomly assigned to the ALPHA group and 27 (56%) to the control group. A total of 227 patients participated: 98 (43%) in the ALPHA group and 129 (57%) in the control group. ALPHA group providers were more likely than control group providers to identify psychosocial concerns (odds ratio [OR] 1.8, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.1-3.0; p = 0.02) and to rate the level of concern as "high" (OR 4.8, 95% CI 1.1-20.2; p = 0.03). ALPHA group providers were also more likely to detect concerns related to family violence (OR 4.8, 95% CI 1.9-12.3; p = 0.001).
                Using the ALPHA form helped health care providers detect more psychosocial risk factors for poor postpartum outcomes, especially those related to family violence. It is a useful prenatal tool, identifying women who would benefit from additional support and interventions. Social support theory and observational risk factor studies suggest that increased antenatal psychosocial support could prevent post-natal depression. We used empirical knowledge of risk and protective factors for post-natal depression not employed previously in order to develop and evaluate an antenatal preventive intervention.
                We conducted a pragmatic randomized controlled trial in antenatal clinics. We screened 1300 primiparous women and 400 screened positive, 69 screen-positive women were untraceable or not eligible. Of 292 women who completed baseline assessment, 209 consented to randomization, of these 190 provided outcome data 3 months post-natally. 'Preparing for Parenthood', a structured antenatal risk factor reducing intervention designed to increase social support and problem-solving skills, was compared with routine antenatal care only. We compared the percentage depressed at 3 months after childbirth using the self-completion General Health Questionnaire Depression scale and Edinburgh Post-natal Depression Scale (EPDS), and the Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry a systematic clinical interview.
                Assignment to the intervention group did not significantly impact on post-natal depression (odds ratio for GHQ-Depression 1.22 (95% CI 0.63-2.39), P = 0.55) or on risk factors for depression. Forty-five per cent of the intervention group women attended sufficient sessions to be likely to benefit from intervention if effective. Attenders benefited no more than non-attenders.
                Prevention services targeting post-natal depression should not implement antenatal support programmes on these lines until further research has demonstrated the feasibility and effectiveness of such methods. The development of novel, low cost interventions effective in reducing risk factors should be completed before further trial evaluation.
While the use of an antenatal psychosocial assessment may increase the clinician's awareness of psychosocial risk, neither of these small studies provides sufficient evidence that routine antenatal psychosocial assessment by itself leads to improved perinatal mental health outcomes. Further studies with better sample size and statistical power are required to further explore this important public health issue. It will also be important to examine outcomes up to one year postpartum not only for mother, but also infant and family.