Comparing Brief Internet-Based Compassionate Mind Training and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Perinatal Women: Study Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

BackgroundDepression that occurs during the perinatal period has substantial costs for both the mother and her baby. Since in-person care often falls short of meeting the global need of perinatal women, Internet interventions may function as an alternate to help women who currently lack adequate access to face-to-face psychological resources. However, at present there are insufficient empirically supported Internet-based resources for perinatal women.ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to compare the relative efficacy of Internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to a novel Internet-based compassionate mind training approach (CMT) across measures of affect, self-reassurance, self-criticizing, self-attacking, self-compassion, depression, and anxiety. While CBT has been tested and has some support as an Internet tool for perinatal women, this is the first trial to look at CMT for perinatal women over the Internet.MethodsParticipants were recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and professional networks. Following completion of demographic items, participants were randomly assigned to either the CBT or CMT condition. Each condition consisted of 45-minute interactive didactic and follow-up exercises to be completed over the course of two weeks.ResultsPost course data was gathered at two weeks. A 2x2 repeated measures analysis of variance will be conducted to analyze differences between conditions at post course.ConclusionsThe implications of the trial will be discussed as well as the strengths and limitations of MTurk as a tool for recruitment. We will also briefly introduce the future directions along this same line of research.Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT02469324; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02469324 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6fkSG3yuW)

A mindfulness and compassion-based program applied to pregnant women and their partners to decrease depression symptoms during pregnancy and postpartum: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

“…They have also been proposed as potentially beneficial for expectant parents preparing for childbirth for managing pain during pregnancy and labor, reducing the risk of PD, and increasing the availability of parental attention for the infant [70]. With these last aims, several MBPs have specifically been adapted for this population [32][33][34][35][37][38][39]; some of them have also included compassion techniques [40,41].…”

“…Other programs, which have been adapted from Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) [37][38][39], have targeted pregnant women suffering from anxiety and depression and have yielded promising results. In addition, researchers in compassion-focused therapy (CFT) have created compassion interventions for prevention and treatment of PD [40,41].…”

A proof‐of‐concept pilot randomized comparative trial of brief Internet‐based compassionate mind training and cognitive‐behavioral therapy for perinatal and intending to become pregnant women

“…As such, the aim of this paper is to compare a CMT course for perinatal and intending to become pregnant women to a CBT course, which is the theoretical orientation that serves as the current gold standard for Internet‐based PPD care. The current outcome paper is a follow‐up to a protocol manuscript introducing the structure of this pilot randomized trial (Kelman et al, ).…”

Effects of a Brief Electronic Mindfulness-Based Intervention on Relieving Prenatal Depression and Anxiety in Hospitalized High-Risk Pregnant Women: Exploratory Pilot Study

“…Compassion-focused therapy represents another promising approach for effectively treating depression and anxiety in perinatal populations [ 60 ]. The equivalence of compassionate mind training on the constructs of self-confidence, inadequate self-criticism, and self-compassion and the superior performance of compassionate mind training in reducing depression and anxiety scores in the latest studies suggest that compassion-focused therapy offers additional benefits beyond the current gold standard of cognitive behavioral therapy [ 61 , 62 ].…”