Preferences and attitudes toward approaches to depression relapse/recurrence prevention among pregnant women

• Pregnant women prefer psychological more than pharmacological relapse/recurrence prevention options.
• Pregnant women perceive psychological relapse/recurrence prevention options as more credible than pharmacological options.
• Pregnant women perceive psychological relapse/recurrence prevention options more positively than pharmacological options.
• History of depression may be important to consider in evaluating preferences and attitudes.

Patient preferences are increasingly recognized as important in clinical research and the delivery of evidence based practice in psychology. Although the prevention of depressive relapse/recurrence among perinatal women is an important public health goal, little is known about pregnant women's preferences and attitudes toward relapse/recurrence prevention interventions. Such information is important given low rates of care seeking among this population, and the potential for a relapse/recurrence prevention to avert negative outcomes among both vulnerable women and their offspring. Pregnant women seeking routine prenatal care in obstetric clinics (n = 200) were surveyed to assess their preferences for and attitudes about psychotherapy and pharmacological approaches to relapse/recurrence prevention. Women preferred psychotherapy (mindfulness based cognitive therapy and interpersonal therapy) more so than pharmacotherapy and reported significantly more favorable perceptions of the psychotherapy as compared to pharmacotherapy approaches to depression relapse/recurrence prevention. Results suggest also that depression history is important to consider in evaluating women's preferences and attitudes. Clinical and research implications of these findings are discussed.