Finding Answers to Postpartum Depression: There’s an App for That

Researchers are engaging women in a research study through a free iPhone app.

Postpartum Depression is estimated to affect one in eight women, but why it affects some and not others is somewhat of a mystery. Researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and the international Postpartum Depression: Action Towards Causes and Treatment (PACT) Consortium are engaging women in a research study through a free iPhone app. The ResearchKit app, called PPD ACT, surveys women to identify those who have had symptoms of postpartum depression. The app also invites certain women based on survey responses to provide DNA samples so that researchers can study the genes of those impacted by postpartum depression.

The simple survey via the app asks women questions related to their childbirth experience, mood, anxiety levels and other symptoms associated with pregnancy and delivery. The study is open to women 18 years or older who have previously given birth and believe they may have experienced signs or symptoms or postpartum depression. The PPD ACT app is available for iPhone users as a free download from the App Store or find more about the study at pactforthecure.com.