Postpartum early EMDR intervention (PERCEIVE) study for women after a traumatic birth experience: Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

This study explores the preventive effects of early intervention EMDR therapy in women after a traumatic birth experience.

Article Abstract

“Background: Up to 33% of women develop symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after a traumatic birth experience. Negative and traumatic childbirth experiences can also lead to fear of childbirth, avoiding or negatively influencing a subsequent pregnancy, mother-infant bonding problems, problems with breastfeeding, depression and reduced quality of life. For PTSD in general, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy has proven to be effective. However, little is known about the preventive effects of early intervention EMDR therapy in women after a traumatic birth experience. The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of early intervention EMDR therapy in preventing PTSD and reducing PTSD symptoms in women with a traumatic birth experience.

Methods: The PERCEIVE study is a randomized controlled trial. Women suffering from the consequences of a traumatic birth experience will be randomly allocated at maximum 14 days postpartum to either EMDR therapy or ‘care-as-usual’. Patients in the EMDR group receive two sessions of therapy between 14 (T0) and 35 days postpartum. All participants will be assessed at T0 and at 9 weeks postpartum (T1). At T1, all participants will undergo a CAPS-5 interview about the presence and severity of PTSD symptoms. The primary outcome measure is the severity of PTSD symptoms, whereas the secondary outcomes pertain to fear of childbirth, mother-infant bonding, breastfeeding, depression and quality of life. The study will be conducted at a large city hospital and at multiple midwifery practices in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Discussion: It is to be expected that the results of this study will provide more insight about the safety and effectiveness of early intervention EMDR therapy in the prevention and reduction of PTSD (symptoms) in women with a traumatic birth experience.

Trial registration: Netherlands Trial Register NL73231.000.20. Registered on 21 August 2020.”

—Description from publisher

Article Access

Open Access

Hendrix, Y. M. G. A., van Dongen, K. S. M., de Jongh, A., & van Pampus, M. G. (2021). Postpartum early EMDR intervention (PERCEIVE) study for women after a traumatic birth experience: Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. BMC Trials, 22, 599. Open access: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-021-05545-6

About the Journal

“Trials encompasses all aspects of the performance and findings of randomized controlled trials in human health.”

—Description from publisher

View the Resource

Date
September 6, 2021

Creator(s)
Y. M. G. A. Hendrix, K. S. M. van Dongen, A. de Jongh

Contributor(s)
M. G. van Pampus

Topics
Pregnancy/Perinatal

Practice & Methods
EMDR Early Intervention

Extent
11 pages

Publisher
Springer

Rights
© The Author(s). 2021 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.

APA Citation
Hendrix, Y. M. G. A., van Dongen, K. S. M., de Jongh, A., & van Pampus, M. G. (2021). Postpartum early EMDR intervention (PERCEIVE) study for women after a traumatic birth experience: Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. BMC Trials, 22, 599. Open access: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-021-05545-6

Audience
EMDR Therapists, Other Mental Health Professionals

Language
English

Content Type
Article, RCT

Access Type
External Resource, Open Access

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