Abstract

BackgroundThe perinatal period is a time of immense change, which can be a period of stress and vulnerability for mental health difficulties. Mindfulness-based interventions have shown promise for reducing distress, but further research is needed to identify long-term effects and moderators of mindfulness training in the perinatal period.MethodsThe current study used data from a pilot randomized control trial (RCT) comparing a condensed mindfulness-based childbirth preparation program—the Mind in Labor (MIL)—to treatment as usual (TAU) to examine whether prenatal mindfulness training results in lower distress across the perinatal period, and whether the degree of benefit depends on child-bearers’ initial levels of risk (i.e., depression and anxiety symptoms) and protective (i.e., mindfulness) characteristics. Child-bearers (N = 30) in their third trimester were randomized to MIL or TAU and completed assessments of distress—perceived stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms—at pre-intervention, post-intervention, six-weeks post-birth, and one-year postpartum.ResultsMultilevel modeling of distress trajectories revealed greater decreases from pre-intervention to 12-months postpartum for those in MIL compared to TAU, especially among child-bearers who were higher in anxiety and/or lower in dispositional mindfulness at baseline.ConclusionsThe current study offers preliminary evidence for durable perinatal mental health benefits following a brief mindfulness-based program and suggests further investigation of these effects in larger samples is warranted.Trial registrationThe ClinicalTrials.gov identifier for the study is: NCT02327559. The study was retrospectively registered on June 23, 2014.

Highlights

  • The perinatal period is a time of immense change, which can be a period of stress and vulnerability for mental health difficulties

  • The present study aimed to address this need by investigating the effects of a brief mindfulness-based intervention during pregnancy on child-bearers’ trajectories of distress through 12-months postpartum

  • The current study aimed to address this need by examining the following research questions: 1) Is participation in Mind in Labor (MIL) versus treatment as usual (TAU) associated with different trajectories of distress—child-bearers’ perceived stress, anxiety, and/or depressive symptoms—across pregnancy and postpartum? 2) Does the symptom level and/or dispositional mindfulness of child-bearers’ at baseline moderate the impact of childbirth education class assignment on distress trajectories? Based on both the prior empirical evidence and predictions based on stress and coping theory, we hypothesized that participation in MIL would be associated with greater reductions in distress—evidenced by decreasing slopes and lower final distress levels—compared to TAU

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Summary

Introduction

The perinatal period is a time of immense change, which can be a period of stress and vulnerability for mental health difficulties. The perinatal period, defined as pregnancy through 12months postpartum, is a time of immense change in a person’s life [1]. While this time can be met with joy, it is for many child-bearers a period of stress and vulnerability to mental health difficulties [2]. Based on findings that different components of perinatal distress can fuel one another across pregnancypostpartum (e.g., [10]) and that trajectories of distress (as opposed to levels at a single time) matter for mother/infant outcomes [11], it is further critical to identify effective preventive intervention strategies that durably reduce distress across the perinatal period.

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