WASHINGTON, DC (October 13, 2026)— Pregnant people hospitalized for obstetric complications face a higher risk of depression before and after giving birth than those not hospitalized. In a study selected as the Editor’s Choice for the September/October Women’s Health Issues, the authors took an intervention that had been found to be effective at preventing postpartum depression in outpatient pregnant populations — ROSE (Reach Out, Stay strong, Essentials for mothers of newborns) — and tested it in pregnant patients who were hospitalized for at least a week.
Women’s Health Issues is the official journal of the Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health, which is based at the Milken Institute School of Public Health (Milken Institute SPH) at the George Washington University.
Marika Toscano, now at Johns Hopkins University, and colleagues from the University of Rochester Medical Center recruited patients from a high-risk antenatal unit and randomly assigned them to receive either ROSE or treatment as usual. They followed participants through 6 weeks postpartum and used surveys and interviews to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of ROSE in an inpatient obstetric population. The 14 participants who received the ROSE intervention had four 90-minute sessions of psychoeducation and therapy before giving birth and one 50-minute postpartum session. The sessions covered role transitions, support systems, communication, stress management, and psychosocial resources.
Enrollment, retention, and follow-up exceeded feasibility thresholds the authors set prior to the study. ROSE participants gave the intervention high scores for acceptability, and more of them had resolution of clinically significant depressive symptoms (scores of 13+ on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale) at 6 weeks postpartum compared to the participants in the usual care group (50% of ROSE participants vs 15% of those who received treatment as usual). “These findings should be interpreted as preliminary evidence of preventive benefit of this intervention in this new context and population,” Toscano and colleagues write.
Postpartum interviews with ROSE participants “revealed that participants viewed the intervention as both an opportunity to contribute to future maternal care and a welcome distraction from the isolation and inertia of prolonged hospitalization,” the authors report. “[P]articipants reported applying learned coping and communication strategies not only during hospitalization but also in subsequent postpartum and neonatal care contexts.”
“Testing effective evidence-based interventions in new populations is a great way to build on past research,” said Karen McDonnell, Editor-in-Chief of Women's Health Issues and Associate Professor of Prevention and Community Health at Milken Institute SPH. “Long hospital stays during pregnancy can pose challenges to mental health, and this study identifies a potential tool for helping women and other pregnant people learn skills to overcome those challenges.”
“Feasibility, Acceptability, and Exploratory Efficacy of Implementing an Intervention for Preventing Postpartum Depression in Antepartum Hospitalized Patients With High-Risk Pregnancy Complications: A Mixed-Methods Experimental Study” has been published in the September/October 2026 issue of Women’s Health Issues.