SynthesisFrontiers in public health2026
Effectiveness of discharge planning interventions on health-related outcomes among postpartum women: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Frontiers in public health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
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Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Postpartum women frequently experience psychological distress, physical morbidities, and sub-optimal maternal-neonatal care skills. Structured discharge planning may mitigate these problems, yet its overall effectiveness and the active ingredients underpinning benefit remain unclear. Objective: To synthesis randomized and quasi-experimental evidence on the effectiveness of discharge planning interventions for improving postpartum women's health outcomes and to identify intervention characteristics that modify this effectiveness. Methods: Nine electronic databases (including PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, CINAHL, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, CNKI, Wanfang, and SinoMed) were searched from inception to 10 May 2025. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and quasi-experimental studies evaluating discharge planning interventions aimed at postpartum women were eligible. Two reviewers independently screened records, assessed risk of bias using the Cochrane RoB 2.0 and ROBINS-I tools, and extracted data. The odds ratio (OR) with its 95% confidence interval (CI) was used as the primary statistical measure. For continuous variables, the standardized mean difference (SMD) was used. Statistical heterogeneity was quantified using the Results: Twenty-one studies (13 RCTs and 8 quasi-experimental studies) involving 33,096 participants from nine countries were included. Discharge planning produced moderate-to-large improvements in: mental health - depressive symptoms (SMD = -0.64; 95% CI: -1.27, -0.01) and anxiety (SMD = -1.29; 95% CI: -2.22, -0.37); self-care and neonatal-care competence (OR = 2.34; 95% CI: 1.20, 4.58); and breastfeeding self-efficacy (SMD = 2.86; 95% CI: 1.63, 4.08). Interventions integrating predischarge education, post-discharge telephone follow-up, and information-based communication platforms tended to demonstrate larger effect sizes. Conclusion: This systematic review and meta-analysis indicates that structured discharge planning programs implemented in hospital-based maternity wards during the early postpartum period can improve maternal mental health, self-care capacity, and maternal-neonatal outcomes. The evidence, derived from both randomized controlled trials and pragmatic quasi-experimental studies conducted in routine clinical settings, suggests that ward- or institution-level discharge interventions are effective and scalable strategies for optimizing postnatal transitions. Systematic review registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD420251055810, registered 20/05/2025.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.