Mindfulness Based Intervention Program on Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms among Pregnant Women

Abstract

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Effect of cognitive behavioral treatment program on anxiety and self esteem among secondary school students View project Acculturative Stress, Assertiveness, and Self Efficacy among Undergraduate International Nursing Students View project Abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of mindfulness based intervention program on anxiety and depressive symptoms among pregnant women. A Quasi-experimental design was used for this study. This study was conducted at antenatal outpatient clinic at El-Manial Educational University Hospital-Cairo University. A purposive sample consisted of 30 pregnant women with high risk for anxiety and depressive symptoms as confirmed by senior obstetrician according to screening sheet for high risk pregnant women. The sample was divided randomly into two groups; study and control groups (15 each). Three tools were used to collect the data for the present study; a) Personal Data Sheet; b) Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale; and c) Perceived Stress Scale. The sample was divided into two groups, fifteen pregnant women as the study group and fifteen pregnant women as control group. Aconstructed mindfulness based intervention program was developed by the researchers and implemented to the study group in ten sessions that were held twice weekly, and each session ranged from 60 to 90 minutes. The main study findings revealed that, there was a statistically significant difference between study and control groups in the reduction of anxiety and depressive symptoms. The study concluded that mindfulness based intervention program was effective with pregnant women concerning the reduction of the anxiety and depression. The study recommended that, there is a great need for performing long-term follow-up in order to evaluate the effects of Mindfulness based intervention program on different pregnancy-related outcomes such as emotional well-being, postnatal depression, and mother-infant relationships.