Vemer, Christie (2026) When Structure May Shorten Care: Group versus Individual Psychotherapy for Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders. thesis, Medicine.
Full text available on request.Abstract
Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders are common and impair maternal functioning, mother�infant bonding, and child development, yet how psychotherapy format affects treatment duration is little studied. This retrospective cohort study at Medisch Spectrum Twente compared time to completing psychotherapy between group and individual formats in patients eligible for a 12-week perinatal group programme, using routinely collected data between February 2025 and April 2026. Secondary outcomes were change in Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale score from baseline to 12 weeks, and time to first antidepressant dose reduction. Time-to-event outcomes used Kaplan-Meier, log-rank, and Cox regression models, and symptom change a linear mixed-effects model. Of 208 women screened, 66 were included (29 group, 37 individual), with 26 events. The group arm completed sooner (median 154 versus 204 days), although this difference was not significant (hazard ratio 1.85, 95% confidence interval 0.83 to 4.09, p = 0.130). Depression scores were only available for the group arm, in which they fell by 6.8 points (p < 0.001). Additionally, antidepressant reduction did not differ significantly between arms (hazard ratio 1.63, p = 0.490). As the first study to compare treatment duration rather than symptom change between perinatal psychotherapy formats, it provides an initial indication that the group format may complete psychotherapy sooner, with no evidence of reduced benefit. This reframes the choice between formats as one of efficiency rather than efficacy, but remains unconfirmed, indicating the need for an adequately powered multicentre study with standardised monitoring to confirm this service-level distinction.
| Item Type: | Thesis (UNSPECIFIED) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Karmaoui, Dr. J. |
| Faculty: | Medical Sciences |
| Date Deposited: | 19 Oct 2026 12:28 |
| Last Modified: | 19 Oct 2026 12:28 |
| URI: | https://umcg.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3976 |
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