Digital Assessment of Wellbeing for New Parents (DAWN-P)

The DAWN-P study has now closed (May 2025). The team is currently working on publications to share the study findings.

Why are we undertaking this study?

We’re conducting this study because around half of cases of postnatal depression are currently missed by health professionals. Around 17 mothers and 9 fathers in every 100 experience depression in the year after their baby’s birth. If postnatal depression is left untreated, it can be hugely disruptive for parents and their children, and also costly for the NHS. Medication or talking therapy can successfully treat postnatal depression, but identifying who needs treatment is difficult, which is why we’re carrying out the DAWN-P study. As most people of childbearing age (94%) own a smartphone, we developed a smartphone app that asks questions about parents’ daily mood to help identify postnatal depression quickly and efficiently. In 2020, we ran a small study and found this digital screening accurately identified parents needing postnatal depression treatment. Now we want to compare our digital screening app to usual NHS care in a type of study called a randomised controlled trial.

What will the study involve?

We aim to recruit 80 women and birthing people in late pregnancy (after 36 weeks of pregnancy) from St Mary’s Hospital and Whiston Hospital. We will divide these participants, by chance, into two groups of 40. The first group will receive usual NHS care. The second group will receive usual NHS care plus the digital screening app (until 8 weeks after the birth of the child). We will also invite up to 20 partners/fathers to use the app. We will gather information from all participants using questionnaires and phone interviews at three different points:

• when participants start the study;
• when their baby is 8 weeks old;
• when their baby is 6 months old.

The assessments will ask questions about mood, how participants use NHS resources, and the app itself. If a parent from either group has possible postnatal depression, they will receive an extra phone call assessment and signposting to further help. We will also conduct interviews with 30 women and birthing people from the group who were offered the app, as well as with 20 partners and 30 healthcare professionals.

The study launched on 31 August 2022 and has now closed (May 2025). The team is currently working on publications to share the study findings.

More information

You can find more information about the study in our participant information video.

Contact us

Please contact us for more information about this study.

Adedamola Falana (Research Assistant)
Email: adedamola.falana@gmmh.nhs.uk
Tel: 07771 307112

Henna Lemetyinen (Project Manager)
Email: henna.lemetyinen@gmmh.nhs.uk

This study is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).