Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy for Psychological Distress in Pregnancy

University of Calgary

Status: Completed

Conditions: Depression; Anxiety; Stress

Treatments: Behavioral: Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02214732

REB13-0860

Details and patient eligibility

About

Anxiety, stress and depression are common during pregnancy and in the postpartum period. The lack of empirically supported, non-pharmaceutical interventions for psychological distress in pregnancy is a significant gap in the literature, especially given many pregnant women's preference for non-pharmaceutical treatments. This study will evaluate the efficacy of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) program in reducing measures of psychological distress (e.g., symptoms of stress, depression and anxiety) in a group of pregnant women endorsing high levels of distress.

Enrollment: 61 patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Eligible women for this study

• are between 12 and 28 weeks of gestation,
• are experiencing psychological distress (elevated perinatal anxiety, mild depressive symptoms, or high-levels of self-reported stress)

Exclusion criteria

• current suicidality
• current substance abuse or dependence
• experience a current major depressive episode
• have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder or other disorders that have a psychotic, dissociative, hallucinatory, or delusional component
• taking prescribed medications that affect sleep or mood

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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61 participants in 2 patient groups

MBCT + Treatment as Usual (TAU)

Experimental group

Description:

Behavioural: Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy Participants in the MBCT group attend an 8 week course of a modified MBCT program for pregnant women, delivered by a licensed clinical psychologist.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy

Treatment as Usual (TAU)

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants in the TAU group access community resources for pregnant women experiencing psychological distress.