4 - (Sym 9) Exposure Acceptability Among Pregnant Latinas with Anxiety: A Qualitative Content Analysis

Objective: Exposure therapy is the frontline treatment for anxiety among adults but is understudied during pregnancy. We qualitatively assess the prospective acceptability of exposure therapy among pregnant Latinas with elevated anxiety, a group for whom significant mental health disparities exist.

Method: Pregnant Latinas (n=25) with elevated anxiety were interviewed regarding their acceptability of exposure therapy following the receipt of an informational clinical video vignette. Interviews were analyzed using deductive content analysis guided by the Theoretical Framework of Acceptability (Sekhon et al., 2017) to understand pregnant Latinas’ views about exposure therapy.

Results: Nineteen themes were identified across the seven theoretically driven subdomains of acceptability. Women expressed acceptability enhancing factors for exposure therapy across affective attitude (i.e., hopefulness), ethicality (i.e., exposure aligned with prioritizing family), and self-efficacy (e.g., increased confidence in using exposure during pregnancy). Women also expressed challenges to exposure therapy acceptability in the subdomains of burden (i.e., managing family reactions), opportunity costs (i.e., cultural conceptions of the maternal role) and self-efficacy (i.e., difficulty using exposure for avoidance related to prenatal health).

Conclusions: Identified exposure concerns and acceptability facilitators can be used to inform initial engagement sessions with pregnant Latinas to increase active participation in care and increase the potential benefit of exposure therapy.