The Effects of a Mindfulness-Based Intervention on Mental Health Outcomes in Pregnant Woman: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Background Pregnancy stress, anxiety, and depression increase the risk of short-term and long-term health problems for the mother and fetus. Mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) is one of the most popular, nonpharmacological interventions used to treat mental health problems. The results of prior research indicate MBI has a less consistent effect on mental health problems in pregnant women. Purpose The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to clarify and determine the effect of MBI on mental health outcomes in pregnant women. Methods Six databases, including Embase, Ovid MEDLINE, CINAHL, EBSCOhost, Cochrane Library, and ScienceDirect, were searched from their dates of inception to November 2021. Google Scholar was also used for the literature inquiry. The inclusion criteria followed the PICO (Patient/Problem, Intervention, Comparison, and Outcome) model in terms of only including studies that used mindfulness therapy, reported mental health outcomes, and applied randomized controlled trial and quasi-experimental approaches. The Cochrane risk of bias tool was applied to evaluate the quality of the studies. Review Manager 5 software with random effect with a standardized mean difference (SMD) was used to analyze level of effect. Results Thirteen studies (10 randomized controlled trials and three quasi-experimental studies) were included. MBI was found to have a small effect on mental health outcomes in pregnant women (p