Postpartum depression, in clinical practice and research, is defined as depression that develops within the first year postpartum [
1]. It consists of a combination of depressed mood, loss of interest, anhedonia, sleep and appetite disturbance, impaired concentration, psychomotor disturbance, fatigue, feelings of guilt or worthlessness, and suicidal thoughts; these symptoms continue for more than two weeks [
2]. Additionally, its onset occurs within four weeks of delivery [
2]. A history of mood disorder and anxiety is a risk factor for postpartum depression [
3]. There is not only one cause of postpartum depression, rather there are multiple biological factors, including hormonal factors, genetics, and immune function may be a cause of postpartum depression [
1]. The prevalence of postpartum depression varies in each country, from 5.00% to 26.32%, and there is a high prevalence rate in developing countries [
4,
5]. Postpartum depression can lead to 5–20% of maternal mortality [
6‐
8]; postpartum depression seriously affects the behavioural symptoms in children [
9]. The present value of total lifetime costs of perinatal depression was £75,728 per woman in the UK [
10]. This means that the prevention of postpartum depression is essential. However, postpartum women are less likely to access prevention and treatment of postpartum depression due to various barriers such as lack of time, stigma, and childcare issues [
11,
12].
To overcome these barriers, digital health technologies have made remarkable progress, such as telemedicine and the use of short message services (SMS), phone calls, and video calls using smartphones. Recently, application (app) -based interventions for prevention have been suggested. WHO defined mHealth as the new horizon for health through the use of mobile technologies: 1. cellular phone – utilization; 2. Computers, handheld – utilization; 3. Telemedicine; 4. medical informatics; 5. technology transfer; and 6. data collection [
13]. There is a systematic review and meta-analysis about mHealth apps; their meta-analysis indicated that mHealth intervention improved the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) scores in the treatment group compared to the controls [
14]. There is another systematic review and meta-analysis on mHealth apps concerning symptom reduction of maternal depression and/or anxiety, which concluded conversely that this did not improve symptoms [
15]. The mHealth intervention is a possible tool used to prevent and treat postpartum depression, but there is still a need for verification.
There have been some systematic reviews and meta-analyses of apps targeting the treatment of patients with postpartum depression, but there is no systematic review and meta-analysis focusing on apps preventing postpartum depression. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis focusing on whether psychosocial intervention apps are effective in preventing postpartum depression. We focused on psychosocial interventions that are well-established approaches for postpartum women. This included peer support, counselling, educational programs, social support, cognitive-behavioural therapy, motivational interviewing, supportive care, mindfulness, and more [
1].