Mindfulness in Pregnancy: A Brief Intervention for Women at Risk
Abstract
Introduction The U.S. has the highest rate of preterm birth (PTB), of all developed countries, especially among African American women. Social determinants of health and inequalities in health outcomes are understudied areas. The intersectionality of race and socioeconomic status has been shown to contribute to chronic stress, stress has been shown to be associated with PTB, yet the mechanisms that affect pregnancy outcomes have not been explicit. Mindfulness-based Interventions that address stress reduction during pregnancy may improve quality of life during pregnancy, perhaps enhancing resilience, and be on the pathway to reducing the risk of negative pregnancy outcomes such as PTB.Methods We over-enrolled African American women and those covered by Medicaid to reach women at higher risk for PTB and included women in substance use treatment. Participants were enrolled in a 6-week mindfulness in pregnancy (MIP) intervention at the obstetric clinic. Sociodemographic characteristics and psychosocial assessments were obtained at three time points.Results We enrolled 35 women who self-identified as: non-white, Medicaid recipients, aged 25-35 years, with high school or less education. We found reductions in perceived stress, pregnancy specific stress, trait anxiety and depression and increases in mindfulness that sustained post-intervention at 2 and 7 months.Discussion Social determinants and stress in particular have been associated with negative birth outcomes. This paper describes a brief intervention and results of MIP tailored to women who have significantly more stress due to race, poverty, homelessness, substance use treatment and other comorbid health risks including PTB.
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A 6-week mindfulness in pregnancy intervention for women at risk yielded reductions in perceived stress, pregnancy specific stress, anxiety, and depression and increases in mindfulness that were sustained at 7 months post intervention.
“A 6-week mindfulness in pregnancy intervention for women at risk yielded reductions in perceived stress, pregnancy specific stress, anxiety, and depression and increases in mindfulness that were sustained at 7 months post intervention [27].”
From Mindful moms: acceptability and impact of co-designed and digitally delivered video meditations for pregnant and parenting women with opioid use disorder (2025) · cites this paper as [27]
The generalized estimating equations approach is consistent with other mindfulness intervention studies with a single sample and repeated measures.
“This approach is consistent with other mindfulness intervention studies with a single sample and repeated measures [25,27].”
From Mindful moms: acceptability and impact of co-designed and digitally delivered video meditations for pregnant and parenting women with opioid use disorder (2025) · cites this paper as [27]
The findings are consistent with other studies that have demonstrated the positive impact of mindfulness interventions on stress and mindfulness constructs.
“Our findings are consistent with other studies that have demonstrated the positive impact of mindfulness interventions on stress and mindfulness constructs [12,15,16,19,20,25–27,30,32].”
From Mindful moms: acceptability and impact of co-designed and digitally delivered video meditations for pregnant and parenting women with opioid use disorder (2025) · cites this paper as [27]
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- Authors
- Abatemarco, D. J., Gannon, M., Short, V. L., Baxter, J., Metzker, K. M., Reid, L., & Catov, J. M.
- Affiliations
- Thomas Jefferson University (US)
- Drexel University (US)
- University of Pittsburgh (US)
- Corresponding author
- Abatemarco, Diane J.
- Venue
- Maternal and Child Health Journal
- Published
- 2021-10-07
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 1875-1883
- ISSN
- 1092-7875 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-6628
- OpenAlex
- W3203160836
- Cited by
- 16
- References
- 46
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 10 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 1
- FWCI
- 0.86
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Maternal and Child Health Journal (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- March of Dimes Foundation (CGP001-PA)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Maternal and Neonatal Healthcare
- Keywords
- mindfulness-based interventions, pregnancy, preterm birth, African American women, Medicaid beneficiaries, perceived stress, pregnancy-specific stress, trait anxiety, depression, addiction treatment, social determinants of health, racial disparities, poverty, homelessness, resilience, birth outcomes
- MeSH terms
- Anxiety, Crisis Intervention, Female, Humans, Infant, Newborn, Pregnancy, Quality of Life, Premature Birth, Mindfulness
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