This study evaluated the long-term effects of an online mindfulness-based program on the psychological distress and mother-infant bonding of women
The aim of this study was to test the efficacy of an online mindfulness program in reducing women's perceived stress, anxiety, depression, and in enhancing mindfulness and mother-infant bonding compared to a control group. The investigators hypothesize that the use of an online mindfulness program or an eight-week mindfulness program by the two experimental groups will lead to improved mood symptoms and mother-infant bonding compared with the control group. A randomized controlled trial comparing three groups of healthy, singleton pregnant women was conducted using the Random Allocation Software (Saghaei, 2004). We used G-Power 3.1.9 for Windows to analyze the minimum effect size that would be statistically significant with an 80% probability, using an alpha error probability of 0.05 in the "ANOVA: Repeated measures, between factors" option. We inputted 3 for the number of groups, 4 for the number of measurements, 0.5 for the correlation between repeated measures, and factored in a 20% attrition rate. There are 41 women in each group.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
DOUBLE
Enrollment
142
The intervention includes an eight-week internet-based mindfulness program. The program introduces participants to a new mindfulness topic every week. These topics are heavily inspired by the eight-week mindfulness programs.
The intervention consists of 2.5-hour classes per week over a period of eight weeks.
Wan-Lin Pan
Taipei, Taiwan
RECRUITINGanxiety
The Beck Anxiety Inventory using 21 items on the scale describes a symptom of anxiety. Responses are rated from 0 (never) to 3 (very often), with higher scores corresponding to higher perceived anxiety.
Time frame: baseline , and at eight weeks (after the intervention), 36 weeks of gestation, and the follow-up at 2 , 4 months postpartum
depression
Edinburgh Perinatal Depression Scale, that was 10-question questionnaire provides a valuable and efficient way to identify patients at risk of perinatal depression. Each item is scored from 0 to 3, with item scores summed to produce a total score
Time frame: baseline , and at eight weeks (after the intervention), 36 weeks of gestation, and the follow-up at 2 , 4 months postpartum
mindfulness
The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, that was 39-item is based on factor analysis. The five facets of the FFMQ include: observing, describing, acting with awareness, non-judging of inner experience, and non-reactivity to inner experience. Scoring uses a 5-point Likert scale, with 1 representing "never or very rarely true" and 5 representing "very often or always true"
Time frame: baseline , and at eight weeks (after the intervention), 36 weeks of gestation, and the follow-up at 2 , 4 months postpartum
mother-infant bonding
The Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire, that was 25 items, with four factors. The first factor was labelled general emotional factor, the second anger towards and rejection of baby; the third infant-focus anxiety; and the fourth, risk of abuse.
Time frame: the follow-up at 2 , 4 months postpartum.
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