Prenatal stress self-help mindfulness intervention via social media: a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND

Prenatal stress is a pressing issue. However, there is a lack of robust evidence for psychosocial interventions to manage this problem.

AIMS

This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of a mindfulness-based intervention on reducing prenatal stress compared to participation in health education groups.

METHODS

A randomized controlled trial was conducted in a prenatal clinic of comprehensive tertiary care from April to October 2017. A total of 108 pregnant women were randomly assigned to an intervention or a control group. Participants completed self-report measures of depression, anxiety, perceived stress, fatigue, positive and negative affect, and mindfulness before, immediately after, and 15weeks after the 4-week intervention period. Generalized estimating equations were used to analyze the intervention outcomes.

RESULTS

The results supported greater improvement in terms of perceived stress (=26.94, 0.001), fatigue (=17.61, 0.001), positive affect (=9.03,  = 0.011), negative affect (=11.37,  = 0.003), and mindfulness (=24.97, 0.001) in the intervention group than in the control group.

CONCLUSIONS

The self-help mindfulness intervention decreased prenatal stress and negative affect and improved positive affect and mindfulness.