Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Prenatal Stress, Anxiety, and Depression

Pregnant people in the United States (US) face myriad barriers to resource accessibility when seeking support, including financial gatekeeping, discrimination, and cis-gendering of the process. Commodification of prenatal support is exhaustive and contributes to a growing exclusivity of traditionally accessible interventions designed to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression, and to promote positive fetal outcomes and parent-child bond. Mindfulness-based interventions are particularly appropriate for reducing stress, anxiety, and depression in pregnancy. Mindfulness-based interventions are intersectional, accessible means of pregnancy and childbirth support with evidence-based outcomes of positive birth experiences and results. Mindfulness is defined as nonjudgmental awareness of the present moment. The literature supports the benefits of mindfulness-based interventions during pregnancy for reducing stress, anxiety, and depression. With the intention of increasing access to affordable, non-invasive, non-pharmacological pregnancy support, a free, 2-hour, online mindfulness-based stress relief workshop for pregnant participants and their supports was offered. Outcomes were consistent with findings of diminished stress, anxiety, and depression in the literature. The workshops’ limited length and participant size indicate the need for longitudinal research with more diverse samples. Initial responses support the endeavor to expand access to mindfulness-based interventions for pregnancy support. Careful consideration has been given to the use of historically gendered terminology herein. Terms such as “maternity,” “maternal,” and “mother,” though employed by select literature reviewed, are rejected in favor of gender-neutral language that is consciously inclusive of queer, trans, and nonbinary pregnancies.