Participants
Participants were recruited at 12–14 weeks of gestation among pregnant women attending antenatal care at the Department of Obstetrics, Rigshospitalet. Pregnant women were eligible to participate if they had depression and/or anxiety requiring treatment by a psychiatrist, general practitioner or a psychologist within the previous ten years, and/or if they used antidepressants in the three months prior to or during pregnancy. Depression and anxiety was defined according to The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V) criteria (20).
The participants meet the following inclusion criteria: ≥18 years of age, appropriate Danish language skills, singleton pregnancy, and at 17–22 gestational weeks at the start of the intervention. Women fulfilling these criteria but with a chronic disease were only included in the study after prior agreement with their obstetrician. Participants were withdrawn from the intervention after randomisation for the following reasons: development of pelvic girdle syndrome, preeclampsia, vaginal bleeding, or symptoms of preterm labour contraindicating physical activity (19).