The Effect of Virtual Patient Visits in the Intensive Care Unit on Postpartum Depression.

Background: Maternal postpartum depression negatively affects the baby's emotional, behavioral, and cognitive development and attachment pattern. We aimed to examine the effect of virtual patient visits in neonatal intensive care unit on postpartum depression in mothers.

Methods: Research data were obtained from mothers whose preterm infants were hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit between April and December 2022. A total of 100 mothers of preterm infants (50 in the virtual patient visit and 50 in the control group) treated in the neonatal intensive care unit of a hospital constituted the sample of the study. Using the Zoom application, virtual patient visits were made for 5 minutes, seven days a week, between mother and the preterm infants, with no nursing intervention implemented for at least 30 minutes. Mothers in the control group saw their babies face to face two days a week. In standard hospital procedure, mothers saw their babies twice a week. Edinburgh postpartum depression scale (EPDS) was administered online to the all mothers before and after the study.

Results: The research resulted with statistically significant decreased EPDS scores of the mothers in virtual patient visit group with the pre-study scores. A statistically significant decrease was found compared to the control group (P<0.001).

Conclusion: Virtual patient visits between preterm infants in neonatal intensive care unit and their mothers could be effective in preventing or reducing postpartum depression of the mother.