Effects of lay support for pregnant women with social risk factors on infant development and maternal psychological health at 12 months postpartum

Abstract

BackgroundThe ELSIPS (Evaluation of Lay Support in Pregnant Women with Social Risk) RCT showed that lay support for women with social risk had a positive effect on maternal mental health and mother-infant bonding. This exploratory study examined whether these observed benefits would impact infant development at 1 year.MethodsA sub-sample of women whose infants were under one year who had participated in the ELSIPS RCT which randomised women to receive either standard care or the services of a Pregnancy Outreach Worker (POW), and who were contactable, were eligible to participate in the follow up. At home visits, the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (3rd Edition) and standardised measures of depression, self efficacy, mind-mindedness and bonding were completed.Results486 women were eligible for follow up, of whom 154 agreed to participate. 61/273 were successfully followed up in the standard maternity care arm and 51/213 in the POW arm. Women who completed follow up were less depressed and had higher selfefficacy scores at 8–12 weeks postpartum than those who did not complete follow up. There were no significant differences in maternal outcomes, infant cognitive development, receptive communication, expressive communication, fine motor development or social/emotional functioning between groups at 12 month follow up. Infants of mothers who received the POW intervention had significantly better gross motor development than infants whose mothers received standard care (p<0.03).ConclusionsThe provision of lay support to women with social risk may facilitate infant gross motor skill development at one year but there were no other demonstrable benefits. The effects of the intervention may be underestimated given that those women who completed follow up had better mental health than the original study sample.Trial registrationControlled-Trials.com ISRCTN35027323.

Recruiting Immigrant and Refugee Arab American Mother–Father–Infant Triads Resettling in the United States: A Feasibility Study

“…Two studies have found that lack of social support predicted maternal depressive symptoms among immigrant Arab American mothers (Alhasanat, 2017;Alhasanat-Khalil et al, 2018). Infants whose mothers had higher levels of social support had better cognitive and language development at 12 months of age (Popo et al, 2017).Therefore, social support in immigrant families may be a key variable to examine as it might affect their stress and depressive symptoms as well as infant outcomes. Social support may also be a factor for which interventions could be developed.…”

Child Development, Maternal Depression and Associated Factors: A Longitudinal Study

“…At fourteen months, depressive symptoms in the third trimester of pregnancy were associated with delay in the gross motor area. Morais et al (2013) and Popo et al (2017) also identified symptoms of maternal depression as indicators of delay in gross motor development at 12 months of age. According to Koutra et al (2013) the consequences of gestational and postnatal depression are diverse for the different subareas of development.…”

“…Regarding development, studies focused on impairments for the child's initial development (Gerstein et al, 2017;Popo, Kenyon, Dann, MacArthur, & Blissett, 2017). With older subjects, age ranging from 5 to 12, maternal depression was a risk factor for social development (Villaseñor, Calderón Hernández, Gaytán, Romero, & Díaz-Barriga, 2017).…”

The effectiveness of interventions during the first 1,000 days to improve energy balance‐related behaviors or prevent overweight/obesity in children from socio‐economically disadvantaged families of high‐income countries: a systematic review

“…Interventions assessed for sustainability 1 to 7 years later (n = 5 studies) revealed that former impacts on anthropometric outcomes at intervention conclusion (if any) were not maintained, nor improved, at the next follow-ups. 58,65,69,76,84 Better sustainability was however observed for feedings practices and EBRBs. 58,65 Although not in the scope of the current review, it is noteworthy that some of the broad parent support programs had a positive impact on various aspects of childbirth preparation (e.g., epidural/pain medication during labor), 86,87 the mother-to-infant bonding, 75,76 safety of new-born care practices, 86,87,89 the child health and development (e.g.…”