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Depression and anxiety symptoms of mothers of preterm infants are decreased at 4 months corrected age with Family Nurture Intervention in the NICU

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Abstract

Preterm delivery can precipitate maternal psychological morbidities. Family Nurture Intervention (FNI) was designed to minimize these by facilitating the emotional connection between mother and infant, beginning early in the infant’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) stay. We examined depression and anxiety symptoms of mothers of preterm infants at 4 months infant corrected age (CA). One hundred fifteen mothers who delivered between 26 and 34 weeks gestational age were randomized to receive standard care (SC) or standard care plus FNI. Mothers’ self-reported depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale: CES-D) and state anxiety (Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory: STAI) symptoms were assessed at enrollment, near to term age, and 4 months (CA). At 4 months CA, mean CES-D and STAI scores were significantly lower in FNI mothers compared to SC mothers. Effectiveness of FNI can only be evaluated as an integrated intervention strategy as it was not possible to control all aspects of FNI activities. Although there was considerable loss to follow-up, analyses suggest that resulting biases could have masked rather than inflated the measured effect size for depressive symptoms. FNI may be a feasible and practicable way to diminish the impact of premature delivery on maternal depressive and anxiety symptoms.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the NICU staff at the Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York as well as the participating families for their invaluable assistance to our program of research. We also want to acknowledge and thank our Data and Safety Monitoring Board for their thoughtful contributions to the conduct of this study (Bruce Levin, PhD; Michael Weitzman, MD; and Deborah E. Campbell, MD). This study was funded by the Einhorn Family Charitable Trust, the Fleur Fairman Family to the BrainGut Initiative at Columbia University Medical Center, and Columbia University’s CTSA from NCRR/NIH (UL1RR024156).

Conflict of interest

The authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript. Author MMM received salary support from the New York State Office of Mental Health Research Scientist position. Donors and institutions funding this work had no direct role in study design, data interpretation, or preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10032, USA

    Martha G. Welch, Meeka S. Halperin, Myron A. Hofer & Michael M. Myers

  2. Department of Pediatrics, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10032, USA

    Martha G. Welch, Raymond I. Stark & Michael M. Myers

  3. Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10032, USA

    Martha G. Welch

  4. Department of Developmental Neuroscience, New York State Psychiatric Institute, 1051 Riverside Drive, Unit 40, New York, NY, 10032, USA

    Martha G. Welch, Myron A. Hofer, Amie A. Hane & Michael M. Myers

  5. Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10032, USA

    Judy Austin

  6. Department of Psychology, Williams College, Williamstown, MA, 01267, USA

    Amie A. Hane

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  1. Martha G. Welch
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Correspondence to Martha G. Welch.

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Welch, M.G., Halperin, M.S., Austin, J. et al. Depression and anxiety symptoms of mothers of preterm infants are decreased at 4 months corrected age with Family Nurture Intervention in the NICU. Arch Womens Ment Health 19, 51–61 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-015-0502-7

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