Relationship Between Frequency of Remote Visitation and Postpartum Depression in Mothers of Hospitalized Neonates During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Objective

To explore the relationship between symptoms of postpartum depression and the number of remote visitations among mothers of infants in the NICU.

Design

Retrospective cohort study.

Setting

NICU in a medical university in Iwate, Japan.

Participants

A total of 89 mothers of infants who spent more than 1 month in the NICU from June 2021 to December 2022.

Methods

Participants completed the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) at 4 days and 1 month after birth. We used a one-way analysis of variance with Tukey–Kramer or Games–Howell post hoc tests to examine differences in postpartum depression among three groups based on the frequency of remote visitation: frequent visitation, rare visitation, or no visitation.

Results

Of the 89 mothers, 41 scored 9 points or higher on the EPDS conducted 4 days after birth; among them, 14 did not visit, 13 rarely visited, and 14 frequently visited the NICU remotely through a web camera. The rare visitation group had significantly higher EPDS scores 1 month after birth (M = 9.7, SD = 5.2) than the frequent (M = 5.3, SD = 3.7) and no visitation (M = 5.1, SD = 4.2) groups (p < .05). The rare visitation group demonstrated lower improvement on the EPDS than the frequent and no visitation groups (nonsignificant).

Conclusion

It is unclear whether remote visitation reduces symptoms of postpartum depression; however, the frequency of remote visitation could be assessed to identify at-risk mothers in need of social support.