Effectiveness of Non-Pharmacological Interventions for Preventing Perinatal Depression: Protocol for a Meta-Analytic Research Domain with Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (Metapsy-Perinatal)

Objective This study describes the methodology of a ‘Meta-Analytic Research Domain’ (MARD) to synthesise the evidence of effectiveness of preventive non-pharmacological interventions for perinatal depression, and to describe the process of iterative refinement with stakeholder of an open-access, user-friendly web-based meta-analytic tool. Methods This study is being conducted within the ‘Metapsy’ project, which develops an open-access meta-analytic databases to synthesize evidence across a range of mental health conditions. This protocol follows the PRISMA-P guidelines and was previously registered in PROSPERO (CRD42023432002). Eligible studies will be randomized controlled trials evaluating any preventive non-pharmacological ( psychological, educational, psychosocial and behavior change ) intervention for perinatal depression—reported as either a primary or secondary outcome. PubMed, Scopus, PsycINFO, CINAHL (via EBSCO), OpenGrey (via DANS), and Embase will be consulted and complemented with extensive hand searching. Risk of bias (RoB) will be assessed by using the RoB 2 Cochrane tool. The meta-analytic database will be created using a standardised extraction sheet developed by the Metapsy project team and adapted to the prevention of perinatal depression. In parallel, a web-based meta-analytic tool will be refined through a patient and public involvement approach, incorporating the perspectives of stakeholders, including researchers, clinicians and women with lived experience, to enhance usability and relevance. Three iterative online focus groups will be conducted. Data will be analysed thematically using an open deductive framework analysis. Following each focus group, revisions will be made to the web-based tool. The GRIPP-2 and the COREQ checklists will be followed. Conclusion Metapsye-Perinatal will establish an open-access MARD for the synthesis of evidence on preventive non-pharmacological interventions for perinatal depression. It will also support the development of a stakeholder-informed, open-access web-based tool to improve access to up-to-date meta-analytic evidence and facilitate evidence-informed decision-making. The resulting database may also support future secondary analyses, including network meta-analysis and component network meta-analysis.