Postpartum Depression Help‐Seeking Barriers and Maternal Treatment Preferences: A Qualitative Systematic Review

Despite the well-documented risk factors and health consequences of postpartum depression, it often remains undetected and untreated. No study has comprehensively examined postpartum depression help-seeking barriers, and very few studies have specifically examined the acceptability of postpartum depression treatment approaches. The objective of this study was to examine systematically the literature to identify postpartum depression help-seeking barriers and maternal treatment preferences.

Medline, CINAHL, and EMBASE databases were searched using specific key words, and published peer-reviewed articles from 1966 to 2005 were scanned for inclusion criteria.