Photo by Alicia Petresc via Unsplash
Postpartum depression has gained recognition in recent years, but many moms (about 20%) also live with anxiety or depression during pregnancy.
Some Richmond-area mothers-to-be may find help in dealing with depression, stress and anxiety through a clinical trial at Virginia Commonwealth University. The trial will seek to gauge the impact of mindfulness activities and social connections in alleviating anxiety and depression in pregnancy.
Principal investigators are Susan Bodnar-Deren and Patricia Kinser, the co-directors of perinatal research for the VCU Institute for Women’s Health. Bodnar-Deren also is an associate professor of sociology at VCU, and Kinser is an endowed professor in the School of Nursing. The program is funded through a $2.4 million, five-year federal grant that was announced in May.
The study involves women in their second trimester. All participants will receive an initial interview to assess their strengths and motivation in maintaining health and wellness.
Then, each participant will engage in a 75-minute session once a week for three months. Those assigned to the control group will engage in prenatal education circles; the others will participate in the Mindful Moms program, which teaches mindfulness techniques through yoga. Both groups provide social connectedness.
Mindful Moms was tested in a pilot program in 2016. The prenatal education circles is a program that was developed by a community partner organization, Healthy Hearts Plus II.
Pregnancy is a good time to begin a program because women are more engaged with their health and motivated to improve their own health and the child’s. “We want to engage them and empower them to manage their health,” Kinser says.
As of mid-October, the study is recruiting participants; the goal is to recruit 200 women. It was initially set for metro Richmond only but will now be available via online video sessions to women across the state.
“There’s lots of underserved communities outside the capital district that we’ll be able to work with; that’s exciting,” Bodnar-Deren says.
Participants will be followed for six weeks after delivery. The effectiveness of the activities will be gauged through blood samples from each participant to measure DNA methylation, which moderates gene expression, sort of like the function of a dimmer switch on a light, according to Kinser. It’s a mechanism that can be influenced by multiple factors, including genetic, environmental and behavioral environment.
“It’s a really interesting tool to look at how, in this case, how one’s psychological environment [has an] impact under the skin, impact at a deeper level, beyond just the symptoms that one is experiencing,” Kinser says.
Differences in DNA methylation patterns have been associated with clinical diagnosis of depression and in self-reported depression. Studies also have shown that when depression symptoms decrease, that may be mirrored in DNA methylation patterns.
“This is an opportunity to explore not only whether depressive symptoms might be decreasing over time in this population, but also what is happening at a deeper, biological level,” Kinser says. “We’re thinking that DNA methylation patterns might be modified with short-term self-management and mindful interventions like this. We’ve seen methylation changes related to the stress response, so that, specifically, is where we are focusing our attention.”
The study is working with community groups across the metro area and has a goal to engage women who are underserved and may not otherwise receive treatment. Many who are dealing with depression or anxiety during pregnancy don’t seek treatment out of concerns such as the cost of therapy or medications or about possible side effects. There’s also a perceived social stigma regarding mental health and depression.
The study seeks to provide the women with low-cost, easily accessible tools to alleviate anxiety or depression without the need for a prescription or a health care provider.
“The beautiful thing about this intervention is that it can be used in adjunct, in addition to medications, if women so choose; it’s accessible to anybody,” Kinser says.
It also may help people who are experiencing stress but may not meet clinical criteria for treatment with medication. “This allows for an additional option for women, for people across the board, who are experiencing stress,” Bodnar-Deren says.
To learn more, call or text 804-273-7267 or 804-828-5181 or email mindfulmoms@vcu.edu.
CAPSULES
Health and medicine news in brief
- You can safely dispose of any old prescription pain medications at a Crush the Crisis event sponsored by HCA Virginia on Saturday, Oct. 23. Hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for the third annual event, to be held at Wegmans in Midlothian, the Sarah Cannon Cancer Institute at Henrico Doctors’ Hospital and the John Randolph Medical Center in Hopewell. The event is targeting opioids, but any med may be safely disposed of at a takeback event, except they will not take inhalers, liquids, lancets, syringes or needles. HCA reports that it collected 13,523 pounds of old prescription meds last year at 95 of its facilities in 18 states.
- Services for people with multiple sclerosis may get a boost from a $750,000 grant recently awarded to the Adira Foundation by the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation. The money is targeted for improving access, delivery and use of specialty care, according to a release. The nonprofit foundation reports that grant funding will benefit 5,000 people with MS in Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and West Virginia. The grant begins in November and runs through October 2024. Adira was founded in Richmond and also has offices in Washington.
- A five-year, $1.25 million federal grant will benefit Project PEACE, a program to support young job-seekers with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Richmond and Colonial Heights. PEACE is an acronym of sorts that stands for promoting employment after high school through community expertise. It is led by researchers with the School of Education at Virginia Commonwealth University. The program helps the young people gain skills and experience and is also “about communities collectively developing capacities and solutions so that they’re better prepared to support and ultimately benefit from capable, reliable and often essential workers with [intellectual or developmental disabilities],” according to Seb Prohn, the project's principal investigator and an evaluation analyst with Partnership for People With Disabilities at VCU. Project PEACE is expected to provide community employment experiences to 24 to 35 people with intellectual or developmental disabilities.
