Mindful Yoga for Postpartum Depression

Not Applicable

Recruiting

• Conditions: Mood Disorders
• Interventions: Other: Psychoeducation; Behavioral: Mindfulness-based yoga program

• Registration Number: NCT06275217
• Lead Sponsor: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Brief Summary

This is a parallel-group randomized controlled trial. A total of 198 postpartum women with depressive symptoms (EPDS scores≥8 at baseline) will be recruited and randomized into two groups: 10-week mindful yoga intervention and 10-week psychoeducation program. Clinical assessment of depression, self-report questionnaires and salivary cortisol tests will be performed at baseline, after 10-week intervention, and at 6-month and 12-month follow-ups. The investigators expected that the mindful yoga intervention will reduce depression after 10 weeks compared to psychoeducation. The mindful yoga intervention will further reduce anxiety, stress, improve quality of life and sleep, and steepen diurnal cortisol slopes. These effects will be maintained for at least six months.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2021-01-08
• Study First Submitted: 2024-01-17
• Study First Submitted QC: 2024-02-15
• Study First Posted: 2024-02-23
• Status Verified: 2025-03
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-03-13
• Last Update Posted: 2025-03-18
• Primary Completion: 2025-07-15
• Study Completion: 2025-12-31

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: RECRUITING
• Sex: Female
• Target Recruitment: 198

Inclusion Criteria

• Postpartum women aged 18-60 years old.
• The scores of EPDS ≥ 10.
• At least 6 week and up to 1 year after childbirth.
• Giving birth to a single full-term healthy baby (gestation between 37-41 weeks, body weight > 2.5kg, APGAR score at 5 minutes > 7).
• Fewer than 10 hours of yoga/Qi gong/Tai Chi or mindfulness/meditation practice in the previous 3 months.

Exclusion Criteria

• Severe complications after delivery, or their infants are admitted to NICU.
• Regular psychiatric follow-up.
• Currently taking antipsychotic drugs.
• Known pragnancy, or other contraindications to physical exercise (e.g., wound healing situation) according to the body examination by O&G clinicians at 6 weeks after delivery.

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Psychoeducation group	Psychoeducation	The participants in the psychoeducation group will receive a 10-week psychoeducation program, one session per week with 1.5 hours in each session.
Mindful yoga group	Mindfulness-based yoga program	The participants in experimental group will receive a 10-week mindfulness-based yoga program, one session per week with 1.5 hours in each session.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale	Baseline, 10 weeks, 6 months and 1 year follow-ups.	Measures postnatal depression. Each item scores 0-3, and the total score ranges from 0 to 30. Higher score means worse depressive symptoms.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-Depression	Baseline, 10 weeks, 6 months and 1 year follow-ups.	Measures depressive symptoms. Each item scores 0-3, the total score for depression ranges from 0 to 21. Higher score means worse symptoms of depression.
Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-Anxiety	Baseline, 10 weeks, 6 months and 1 year follow-ups.	Measures anxiety symptoms. Each item scores 0-3, the total score for anxiety ranges from 0 to 21. Higher score means worse symptoms of anxiety.
Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-Stress	Baseline, 10 weeks, 6 months and 1 year follow-ups.	Measures stress symptoms. Each item scores 0-3, the total score for stress ranges from 0 to 21. Higher score means worse symptoms of stress.
Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index	Baseline, 10 weeks, 6 months and 1 year follow-ups.	Measures sleep quality. There are 8 components scores, and each component score ranges from 0 to 3. Higher score means worse sleep quality.
36 Item-Short Form Health Survey Questionnaire	Baseline, 10 weeks, 6 months and 1 year follow-ups.	Measures quality of life including physical and mental health. Each item scores 0-100. There are eight subscores ranging from 0 to 100. Higher score means better quality of life.
Pregnancy Symptom Inventory	Baseline, 10 weeks, 6 months and 1 year follow-ups.	Measures physical pain and fatigue of postpartum women. Each item scores 0-3. The total score ranges from 0 to 24. Higher score means worse pregnancy symptoms.
Cortisol concentration level	Baseline and 10 weeks (post-intervention).	Measures salivary cortisol concentration at baseline and post-intervention. Higher concentration means higher level of stress and depression.
Balance	Baseline and 10 weeks (post-intervention).	Single-leg standing test is used to measure the balance. The time to keep the posture is recorded. Higher score means better balance ability.
Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire	Baseline, 10 weeks, 6 months and 1 year follow-ups.	Measures the level of mindfulness ability. Each item scores 1-5, and the total score ranges from 42 to 210. Higher score means better mindfulness ability.
Physical fitness	Baseline and 10 weeks (post-intervention).	6-minute walking test is used for physical fitness measure. The total distance walked during 6 minutes is recorded. Higher score means better fitness.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University; 🇭🇰 Hong Kong, Hong Kong