Advancing Insight into Maternal Social Support (AIMSS): Group Prenatal Care and Postpartum Mood

ABSTRACT Postpartum mood disorders (PPMD) affect 8-13% of new mothers, with another 16-23% experiencing elevated symptomology throughout the infant’s first year of life. A variety of interventions for PPMD exist, including pharmacological and psychosocial treatments such as social support. However, existing research on advantages of social support programs has been limited to the postpartum period only. As such, benefits of social support programs during pregnancy have not been established, and little is known about the conditions under which these programs may affect PPMD. CenteringPregnancy is a group-based prenatal care model with demonstrated positive maternal and infant health outcomes when compared to prenatal care-as-usual (CAU). It addresses many barriers commonly impeding prenatal mental health interventions, is a low-cost and easily disseminated model, and has high patient satisfaction across diverse samples. However, documented outcomes are limited to birth outcomes (e.g., reduced preterm birth rates, reduced low birth-weight, increased breastfeeding) and prenatal maternal physical health such as gestational diabetes and smoking. The research examining the effect on postpartum mental health is scant and limited by small sample sizes, absence of postpartum mental health assessments, and narrow operationalization of mental health outcomes (e.g., depression only). The proposed project will address these limitations by examining mental health benefits through the following Aims: 1) Use a newly created, pre-existing dataset (MH126403) for secondary data analysis, to determine under what conditions the CenteringPregnancy model affects perinatal mental health, delivery outcomes, and early parenting behaviors compared to CAU prenatal care; 2) Use a qualitative design to better understand particular impacts and influences of participating in the CenteringPregnancy program on mental health outcomes and early parenting; and 3) Strengthen Meredith College’s research environment and employ innovative approaches to enhance existing programs with new and sustainable initiatives to support faculty and student scholarly productivity, and engage undergraduate research assistants in collaborative research while mentoring and instructing them in research concepts and processes. This research will contribute to the existing knowledge base by advancing understanding of social support interventions relevant to maternal mental health and early parenting behaviors, revealing targeted points of entry for prevention and intervention programs to alter maternal mood disorder risk, and to promote positive parenting behaviors during pregnancy and throughout the postpartum period.