Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Perinatal anxiety is a common experience of tension and worry during and after pregnancy, which may be related to pregnancy or a continuation of pre-existing anxiety. Mindfulness-based interventions teach mindfulness skills, and they are the most effective known treatment for perinatal anxiety. The goal of this study is to respond to calls for more research on mindfulness-based interventions for perinatal anxiety by measuring changes in mindfulness across a mindfulness-based intervention and by assessing the durability of the intervention effect on perinatal anxiety. We will recruit 140 pregnant participants who will be randomly assigned to a waitlist control group (n = 70) and a mindfulness intervention group (n = 70). All participants will provide consent and sociodemographic information, then complete measures of mindfulness and perinatal anxiety at Week 0. Next, the intervention group will attend eight hour-long twice-weekly sessions on Zoom in small groups. Each session will cover a different mindfulness technique, followed by interactive participation. Between sessions, participants will practice the techniques learned in session. After the intervention, all participants will provide measures of mindfulness and perinatal anxiety at Week 4 and Week 12. We expect that (1) participants in the intervention group will experience lower levels of perinatal anxiety after the intervention than participants in the control group, (2) that perinatal anxiety will not significantly change between Week 4 and Week 12, and (3) that changes in mindfulness can account for changes in perinatal anxiety for the intervention group. We hope that the findings of our research can inform future mental health care practices to support pregnant people during their transition to parenthood.