AIMSS STUDY

Advancing Insight into Maternal Social Support (AIMSS) is a multi-year study that will explore how social support interventions during pregnancy affect occurrence of postpartum mood disorders (PPMD) and early parenting behaviors.

The Advancing Insight into Maternal Social Support (AIMSS) study is a National Institutes of Mental Health funded, multi-part study seeking to understand how social support in the prenatal period may protect women from postpartum mood disorders.

What We've Found

Findings from the initial study revealed that CenteringPregnancy participants with greater socioeconomic vulnerability reported significantly lower depression, anxiety, and stress at 6 months postpartum compared to moms who received traditional prenatal care.

What We're Researching

The current study will extend this research with CenteringPregnancy graduates completing surveys at 6 months postpartum and online focus groups at 12 months.

Project Aims

This project will examine the mental health benefits of CenteringPregnancy via the following Aims:

Aim 1

Collaborate with undergraduate students to use the per-existing dataset from the initial AIMSS Study to determine under what conditions the CenteringPregnancy model affects perinatal mental health, delivery outcomes, and early parenting behaviors, compared to prenatal Care As Usual. Undergraduate research assistants (URAs) will be trained to develop research questions and appropriate statistical analyses to examine the longitudinal data of two time-points (e.g. pregnancy, 6-weeks postpartum) in determining the most relevant individual and group characteristics associated with perinatal and infant health outcomes.

Aim 2

Use a qualitative design to better understand particular impacts and influences of participating in the CenterPregnancy program on mental health outcomes and early parenting. In training URAs, we will recruit participants for focus groups, record and transcribe group sessions, and use Grounded Theory analysis.

Aim 3

Strengthen the College’s research environment and employ innovative approaches to a) enhance existing programs with new and sustainable initiatives to support faculty and student scholarly productivity, and b) engage URAs in collaborative research while mentoring and instructing them in research concepts and processes (e.g. research methodology, participant recruitment, ethical and professional standards, data collection and analysis, and dissemination through scholarly writing and presentation).

Expected Results

The results of this research will contribute to the existing knowledge base by advancing understanding of social support interventions relevant to maternal mental health and revealing targeted points of entry for prevention and intervention programs to alter maternal mood disorder risk during pregnancy and throughout the postpartum period. Further, the project’s focus on clinical effectiveness and implementation outcomes will support sustainability and scalability of interventions involving group-based social support.

Announcements

Coming soon.