Mindful Yoga for Postpartum Depression
Key facts
- Who runs it
- The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
- Where
- Hong Kong1 site in 1 countryChoose a country to see its sites
- Trial code
- Status
- Completed
- People taking part
- 198 people enrolled
- Started
- 8 Jan 2021
- Ended
- 31 Dec 2025
- Type of study
- Interventional, 2 groupsOne group gets an existing treatment, for comparison.
- Treatments tested
- Mindfulness-based yoga program
- Psychoeducation
- Record updated
- 17 September 2026
Who can take part
- Age
- 18 years to 60 years
- Sex
- Women only
- Healthy volunteers
- Cannot take part
The registry criteria, word for word
Show all 9 criteriaShow less
Who can take part
- Postpartum women aged 18-60 years old
- The scores of EPDS ≥ 10
- At least 6 week and up to 1 year after childbirth
- Giving birth to a single full-term healthy baby (gestation between 37-41 weeks, body weight > 2.5kg, APGAR score at 5 minutes > 7)
- Fewer than 10 hours of yoga/Qi gong/Tai Chi or mindfulness/meditation practice in the previous 3 months
Who cannot take part
- Currently taking antipsychotic drugs
- Regular psychiatric follow-up
- Severe complications after delivery, or their infants are admitted to NICU
- Known pragnancy, or other contraindications to physical exercise (e.g., wound healing situation) according to the body examination by O\&G clinicians at 6 weeks after delivery
This trial has no sites in United States.
It has sites in one country. Choose a country to see its sites.
About the trial
What the trial wants to find out
This is a parallel-group randomized controlled trial. A total of 198 postpartum women with depressive symptoms (EPDS scores≥8 at baseline) will be recruited and randomized into two groups: 10-week mindful yoga intervention and 10-week psychoeducation program. Clinical assessment of depression, self-report questionnaires and salivary cortisol tests will be performed at baseline, after 10-week intervention, and at 6-month and 12-month follow-ups. The investigators expected that the mindful yoga intervention will reduce depression after 10 weeks compared to psychoeducation. The mindful yoga intervention will further reduce anxiety, stress, improve quality of life and sleep, and steepen diurnal cortisol slopes. These effects will be maintained for at least six months.
The 2 groups in the trial
- Mindful yoga groupTreatment being tested
The participants in experimental group will receive a 10-week mindfulness-based yoga program, one session per week with 1.5 hours in each session.
Treatment: Mindfulness-based yoga program
- Psychoeducation groupExisting treatment, for comparison
The participants in the psychoeducation group will receive a 10-week psychoeducation program, one session per week with 1.5 hours in each session.
Treatment: Psychoeducation
Data and sources
- Registry record
- Listed on ClinicalTrials.gov.
- Official title
- The Effects of a Mindful Yoga Program on Mood Symptoms and Stress for Postpartum Women With Depressive Symptoms: a Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial
- Record updated
- 17 September 2026