A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of a Multimodal Wellness Intervention for Perinatal Mental Health.
Ellen Goldstein, Mariam Keita, Christabel Koomson and 4 others
PMID 40207735WHAT IT FOUND
A four-session Zoom wellness program with motivational interviewing was feasible and acceptable for pregnant people, and participants showed more health-promoting behaviors and lower anxiety than those receiving prenatal education at some timepoints, but this pilot was not powered to prove benefit.
Key findings
01The pilot was feasible and acceptable, with 72.5% session adherence and 57.5% program completion across groups, and 73% of intervention participants reporting being very satisfied.
02Health-promoting behaviors increased more with the intervention than with prenatal education at postintervention (mean difference 2.55, P = .058) and at 2 months (mean difference 3.63, P = .049).
03Anxiety scores were lower with the intervention than with prenatal education at 6 weeks postpartum (mean difference -2.83, P = .097), described as a change from mild to minimal symptoms.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study was a pilot with 40 randomized participants and was not powered to provide conclusive evidence of efficacy. Attrition was substantial: 12 of 40 did not complete sessions before the postintervention assessment, and 60% of participants in both groups completed the 6-week postpartum assessment. Participants who remained had higher resilience, lower perceived stress, more health-promoting behaviors, fewer health-impairing behaviors, and lower depressive symptoms at baseline than those who discontinued, so completers may have been a more engaged or less distressed group. Outcomes were self-report and interview-administered, which may have increased socially desirable responses. The sample was a convenience sample from one metropolitan health system, so it may not generalize to other populations. The paper reported a between-group anxiety difference at 6 weeks postpartum with P = .097, and the study tested many outcomes in a small sample.
Declared interests
The supplied metadata lists non-U.S. government and NIH extramural research support. No author conflict-of-interest statement is included in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the reported significant anxiety and health behavior results as proof that this intervention works for perinatal mental health. The trial had 40 randomized participants, was not powered to provide conclusive efficacy evidence, used multiple self-report outcomes, and the anxiety result at 6 weeks had P = .097.