SAFE Antenatal Education and Pregnant Women’s Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Postpartum Blues: A Controlled Study

Abstract

Postpartum blues is a common, generally transient mood disturbance after birth, whereas postpartum depression is a distinct condition requiring assessment. This study examined safe antenatal education and pregnant women’s knowledge and attitudes toward postpartum blues using a nonrandom pretest–posttest controlled quasi-experiment. The study took place at Saigon and Banjar Serasan primary health centres, Pontianak Timur, Indonesia, in 2026 and included 60 third-trimester pregnant women, with 30 at Saigon (intervention) and 30 at Banjar Serasan (control). The intervention consisted of Supportive Antenatal Care for Emotional Well-Being (SAFE): information on postpartum emotional changes, risk factors, coping, family support and self-care. Outcomes were assessed using knowledge and attitude questionnaires relating to postpartum blues. In the SAFE group, knowledge increased by 8.5 points, from 70.5 to 79.0, while the control mean decreased from 67.5 to 64.5. Attitude increased from 67.0 to 81.4 in the intervention group and changed little (62.9 to 62.3) in controls. The analysis reports between-group p values below 0.001 for knowledge and attitude after education. In interpretation, antenatal education can help expectant mothers label common emotional experiences and identify support routes before delivery. Greater knowledge and more constructive attitudes are feasible proximal targets; neither is direct evidence that postpartum blues or depression has been prevented. The design and measurement constraints mean that associations should not be represented as definitive causal effects.