You Matter: A device to provide home based treatment to new mothers going Through postpartum Depression.

Abstract

Postpartum depression is a crippling mood disorder, historically neglected in health care, leaving new mothers to suffer in fear, confusion, and silence. There is a massive need to acknowledge this disorder and design an accessible solution through effective therapies. In this study, we will explore home based and psychological interventions through research and experimentation. This study focuses on detection and natural prevention of postpartum depression by monitoring mother's mental health, providing the mother with constant validation based on the results, connecting the mothers using the same device for emotional support, educating, and connecting the partners with mothers through the ability to send tangible gestures such as a hug or heart via a fur ball. It will accelerate healing as well as create a healthy living environment for the family. We evaluated postpartum mothers using this device and the findings indicated an improvement in mental and physical health. Our results show that the acknowledgement and emotional support provided to these mothers were the two essential factors in improving the wellbeing of the mother. The solution received validation as the healthcare professionals endorsed it to mothers, the contribution of postpartum depression to maternal deaths was reduced and the researchers used the charted information from the device overtime for further research.