Effects of an early intervention on maternal post-traumatic stress symptoms and the quality of mother–infant interaction: The case of preterm birth

Improving Maternal Mental Health Following Preterm Birth Using an Expressive Writing Intervention: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Evaluations of evidence-based, easily accessible, psychological interventions to improve maternal mental health following very preterm birth are scarce. This study investigated the efficacy and acceptability of the expressive writing paradigm for mothers of very preterm infants. The level of maternal posttraumatic stress and depressive symptoms was the primary outcome. Participants were 67 mothers of very preterm babies who were randomly allocated into the intervention (expressive writing; n = 33) or control group (treatment-as-usual; n = 32) when their infant was aged 3 months (corrected age, CA). Measurements were taken at 3 months (pre-intervention), 4 months (post-intervention), and 6 months CA (follow-up). Results showed reduced maternal posttraumatic stress (d = 0.42), depressive symptoms (d = 0.67), and an improved mental health status (d = 1.20) in the intervention group, which were maintained at follow-up. Expressive writing is a brief, cost-effective, and acceptable therapeutic approach that could be offered as part of the NICU care.

Metaanálisis: efecto de las intervenciones para disminuir el nivel de estrés en padres de prematuros

Introducción: El nacimiento prematuro de un bebé genera estrés en los padres, por el riesgo de aumento en la morbimortalidadque esto conlleva. Existen intervenciones que disminuyen el nivel de estrés en los padres beneficiando a su vez el neurodesarrollo delrecién nacido. Objetivo: Categorizar los principales componentes de los programas de intervención temprana y determinar el efecto deestas intervenciones en la disminución del nivel de estrés en padres de prematuros hospitalizados. Método: Meta-análisis con 9 ensayosclínicos controlados, que cumplieron los criterios de rigurosidad metodológica. Resultados: las intervenciones aplicadas a los padresde prematuros hospitalizados, mostraron efecto de intensidad media-baja sobre el nivel de estrés percibido (d=0,36 IC [-0.68, -0,05]).Sin embargo, las pruebas de heterogeneidad indican alta variabilidad inter-estudio (Q(df=8) = p-val: <0,00001), I2=85% ), explicadaparcialmente por las características moderadoras codificadas para los estudios. Conclusiones: aunque las intervenciones mostraronefectos positivos en la disminución del nivel de estrés en los padres, se evidencia que la educación y el apoyo emocional en conjunto logranun mejor efecto. Las futuras investigaciones deben analizar aspectos como calidad de los estudios, intervenciones con apoyo emocional,edad de los padres y diversidad en los contextos de aplicación.

Association between theta power in 6-month old infants at rest and maternal PTSD severity: A pilot study

Compared to infants born to mothers without PTSD, infants born to mothers with active PTSD develop poorer behavioral reactivity and emotional regulation. However, the association between perinatal maternal PTSD and infant neural activation remains largely unknown. This pilot study (N=14) examined the association between perinatal PTSD severity and infant frontal neural activity, as measured by MEG theta power during rest. Results indicated that resting left anterior temporal/frontal theta power was correlated with perinatal PTSD severity (p=0.004). These findings suggest delayed cortical maturation in infants whose mothers had higher perinatal PTSD severity and generate questions regarding perinatal PTSD severity and infant neurophysiological consequences.

Late preterm birth is a strong predictor of maternal stress later in life: Retrospective cohort study in school-aged children

AIM

The aim of this study was to compare the level of stress in mothers of school-aged children born late preterm and admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) with the level of maternal stress if a child was born late preterm and not admitted to the ICU as well as if a full-term child was admitted to the ICU.

METHODS

In this retrospective cohort study the data were gathered via telephone interview with mothers. The Parenting Stress Index/Short Form was used to determine the level of stress in mothers. Background demographic characteristics, medically relevant variables, and the level of stress were tested using the chi-square test and Kruskal-Wallis test. Logistic regression was used in order to identify predictors of significant level of stress.

RESULTS

Mothers of late preterm born children who were admitted to the ICU, as well as mothers of late preterm children who were not admitted had higher level of stress compared to mothers of full-term children. Namely, mothers of late preterm born children admitted to the ICU had 18-fold increase in risk for significant level of total stress (OR = 18.09; 95% CI 8.55 to 38.26) while 24-fold greater risk was observed in mothers of late preterm children who were not admitted to the ICU (OR = 24.05; 95% CI 10.66 to 54.26) in comparison to mothers of full-term born children.

CONCLUSION

Results indicate that preterm birth and its complications are associated with a higher level of stress in mothers, that persists to school age.

Advances in family-based interventions in the neonatal ICU

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Despite advances in medical care, preterm infants remain at risk for many adverse outcomes. This article reviews findings from several recent neonatal ICU (NICU) interventions and a trial of a novel nurture-based approach, Family Nurture Intervention (FNI).

RECENT FINDINGS

Recent trials reviewed here find positive effects of a variety of family-related interventions focused on parental guidance. These interventions target prescribed physical activities with infants, parents' stress, and the parents' ability to recognize their positive and negative behaviors with their infants. Beneficial effects include reductions in parenting stress, maternal anxiety, and depression. A different approach, FNI, is aimed at establishing mother-infant emotional connection. As in other trials, FNI also decreased maternal symptoms of anxiety and depression, and increased maternal sensitivity. Additionally, FNI led to positive short and long-term effects on infant neurobehavioral outcomes at term and 18 months.

SUMMARY

A number of recent parent-based NICU interventions have been effective at reducing preterm parent stress. Another, FNI, has positive effects on both maternal and infant outcomes and promises to be cost-effective. Future decreases in long-term morbidity in preterm infants will increasingly rely on nonmedical interventions. Therefore, the rigorous development and testing of such interventions should be a high priority in perinatology research.

Debriefing interventions for the prevention of psychological trauma in women following childbirth

BACKGROUND

Childbirth is a complex life event that can be associated with both positive and negative psychological responses. When giving birth is experienced as particularly traumatic this can have a negative impact on a woman's postnatal emotional well-being. There has been an increasing focus on women's psychological trauma symptoms following childbirth, including the relatively rare phenomenon of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the benefit of debriefing interventions to prevent this. In this review we examined the evidence for debriefing as a preventative intervention for psychological trauma following childbirth.

OBJECTIVES

To assess the effects of debriefing interventions compared with standard postnatal care for the prevention of psychological trauma in women following childbirth.

SEARCH METHODS

The trials registers of the Cochrane Depression, Anxiety and Neurosis Group (CCDANCTR-References and CCDANCTR-Studies) and the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group were searched up to 4 March 2015. These registers include relevant randomised controlled trials from the following bibliographic databases: the Cochrane Library (all years to date), MEDLINE (1950 to date), EMBASE (1974 to date), and PsycINFO (1967 to date). Additional searches were conducted in CENTRAL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, and Maternity and Infant Care. The reference lists of all included studies were checked for additional published reports and citations of unpublished research. Experts in the field were contacted.

SELECTION CRITERIA

We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and quasi-randomised trials comparing postnatal debriefing interventions with standard postnatal care for the prevention of psychological trauma of women following childbirth. The intervention consisted of at least one debriefing intervention session, which had the purpose of allowing women to describe their experience and to normalise their emotional reaction to that experience.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

Three authors independently assessed trial quality and extracted data. Meta-analysis was conducted where there were more than two trials examining the same outcomes.

MAIN RESULTS

We included seven trials (eight articles) from three countries (UK, Australia and Sweden) that fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The number of women contributing data to each outcome varied from 102 to 1745. Methodological quality was variable and most of the studies were of low quality. The quality of evidence for the prevalence of psychological trauma (primary outcome) and the prevalence of depression symptoms was rated low or very low, based on few studies (ranging from a single study to three studies) with high risk of bias in main domains such as performance bias, random sequence generation, allocation concealment and incomplete outcome data. The quality of evidence for the remaining outcomes (that is prevalence of anxiety, prevalence of fear of childbirth, prevalence of general psychological morbidity, health service utilization and attrition from treatment) was not assessed as data were not available.Among women who had a high level of obstetric intervention during labour and birth, we found no difference between standard postnatal care with debriefing and standard postnatal care without debriefing on psychological trauma symptoms within three months postpartum (RR 0.61; 95% CI 0.28 to 1.31; n = 425) or at three to six months postpartum (RR 0.62; 95% CI 0.27 to 1.42; n = 246). The results were based on two trials, respectively. Among women who experienced a distressing or traumatic birth, there was no evidence of an effect of psychological debriefing on the prevention of PTSD (measured by the MINI-PTSD) at four to six weeks postpartum (RR 1.15; 95% CI 0.66 to 2.01; n = 102) or at six months (RR 0.35; 95% CI 0.10 to 1.23; n = 103). The results were based on one small trial. One trial involving low-risk women who delivered healthy infants at or near term reported no significant difference between the intervention group and the control group in the proportion of women who met the diagnostic criteria for psychological trauma during the year following childbirth (RR 1.06; 95% CI 0.88 to 1.28; n = 1745). We did not find any information about attrition rates.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS

We did not find any high quality evidence to inform practice, with substantial heterogeneity being found between the studies conducted to date. There is little or no evidence to support either a positive or adverse effect of psychological debriefing for the prevention of psychological trauma in women following childbirth. There is no evidence to support routine debriefing for women who perceive giving birth as psychologically traumatic.Future research should provide greater detail of the outcome measures used, and with scales for measuring psychological trauma validated against clinical diagnostic interviews. High rates of obstetric intervention in some birth settings may mean that women require improved emotional care from health professionals to reduce the risk of childbirth being experienced as traumatic. As all included trials excluded women unable to communicate in the native language of the study setting, there is no information on the response of these women to psychological debriefing. No included studies were conducted in low or middle-income countries.