Mindfulness-Based Training in Childbirth Education Classes to Reduce Stress in Pregnant Women

Background:Stress during pregnancy activates the maternal stress response, which can lead to various negative outcomes for the mother and infant. Currently, there is a gap in the education of pregnant women regarding how to manage stress during pregnancy. Although childbirth education classes are a major resource for pregnant women, evidence is showing many pregnant women feel more stressed after attending the classes. The purpose of this project was to educate pregnant women at childbirth education classes on how to reduce stress during pregnancy using evidence-based mindfulness techniques.Methods:This quality improvement project implemented a mindfulness-based training at three childbirth education classes using evidence-based mindfulness techniques. The stress of pregnant women was measured before and after the intervention using The Perceived Stress Scale, which is a validated tool measuring stress over the past month. A pre-training survey was given before the intervention that included demographic information of participants and open-ended questions assessing the participants' knowledge of mindfulness. A post-training survey was given after the training with the same open-ended questions as the pre-training survey, assessing knowledge of mindfulness, and three additional open-ended questions assessing the efficacy of the project. Results:A total of 83% (N=29) participants completed the pre- and post-survey and perceived stress scale. A Wilcoxon Signed Rank test compared pre- and post-perceived stress scale scores and showed a P-value of 0.811 with a significance level of 0.050, which is not statistically significant. Answers to the pre- and post-training open-ended questions indicated an increase in knowledge of mindfulness and mindfulness techniques. The majority of participants stated they would continue using mindfulness throughout their pregnancy. Conclusions:Although there was no significant change in pre- and post-training Perceived Stress Scale scores, there was an increase in knowledge of mindfulness and an overall positive perception from participants regarding the training. Replication of this quality improvement project is needed with a larger sample size and increased amount of time between intervention and post-training survey to determine the efficacy of the training.