Category: Women's Health
Samantha Hellberg, M.A.
Graduate student
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Cynthia Battle, Ph.D.
Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Providence, Rhode Island
Samantha Hellberg, M.A.
Graduate student
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Daisy Singla, Ph.D.
Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Teresa Lillis, Ph.D.
Rush University Medical Center
Loveland, Colorado
Avelina Padin, Ph.D.
Rush University Medical Center
Elmhurst, Illinois
Mental health challenges during the perinatal period represent a critical public health issue. “Perinatal distress” (PND) can encompass a broad spectrum of psychological and behavioral concerns. Mood, anxiety, and traumatic stress-related concerns are most common, with PND representing the most widely experienced complication of pregnancy. When PND goes unidentified or unaddressed, it confers an array of significant risks for the caregiver, including reduced quality of life and increased risk of functional impairment, mortality and morbidity. Further, PND bears transgenerational consequences, with long-term implications for child outcomes. The COVID-19 pandemic has compounded the prevalence and severity of PND, with experts regarding this time as a “crisis for perinatal mental health” (e.g., Osborne et al., 2021). Critically, this crisis has disproportionately affected communities impacted by structural inequality and racial injustice. In sum, there is a clear need to effectively identify and address PND in order to mitigate its prevalent, adverse effects.
Accordingly, this symposium integrates research on cutting-edge advances in the assessment and treatment of psychological and behavioral health concerns during the perinatal period. The first presentation will provide a scoping and systematic review on the use of ambulatory assessment (i.e., intensive, longitudinal, real-world) methods to assess, understand, and intervene on perinatal mental health processes. The existing literature will be summarized with an eye towards next steps for increasing the accessibility of evidence-based assessment and screening, and developing personalized, just-in-time interventions. The second presentation will address novel research efforts to capture perinatal sleep behavior in naturalistic settings with wearable technologies and highlight the relevance of this line of work to the identification and understanding of PND in high-risk individuals. The third presentation will address recent advances in the treatment of perinatal posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from a pilot trial of narrative exposure therapy. The need for culturally responsive and accessible interventions, particularly for communities unduly impacted by violence, trauma, and stress amidst the ongoing pandemic, will be discussed. Our last presentation will include results from the world’s largest psychotherapy trial, which seeks to aid in the dissemination of evidence-based psychotherapy for perinatal distress. The presenter will discuss research conducted to inform scaling-up culturally sensitive and evidence-based interventions for perinatal distress that account for cultural experiences and racial injustice. Finally, our expert discussant will conclude with a discussion of critical gaps in our understanding and treatment of perinatal mental health, and emphasize necessary future avenues for advancing our ability to predict, prevent, and effectively intervene on mental health challenges among high-risk caregivers.
Presenter: Samantha N. Hellberg, M.A. – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Co-author: Jonathan Abramowitz, Ph.D. – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Presenter: Daisy R. Singla, Ph.D. – Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Co-author: Sabrina Hossain, MSc – Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Co-author: Nicole Andrejek, PhD – Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Co-author: Matt Cohen, PhD – Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina School of Medicine
Co-author: Cindy-Lee Dennis, PhD – Department of Psychiatry, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto
Co-author: Jo Kim, PhD – Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, NorthShore University HealthSystem
Co-author: Laura LaPorte, LCSW – Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, NorthShore University HealthSystem
Co-author: Samantha Meltzer-Brody, MD, MPH – Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina
Co-author: Angie Puerto Nino, MD, MHSc – Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Co-author: Paula Ravitz, MD FRCPC – Department of Psychiatry, Sinai Health
Co-author: Nour Schoueri-Mychasiw, PhD – Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health
Co-author: Maral Zibaman, MD – Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Co-author: Richard Silver, MD – epartment of Obstetrics & Gynecology, NorthShore University HealthSystem
Co-author: Simone Vigod, MD, MSc, FRCPC – Department of Psychiatry, Women’s College Hospital
Co-author: Crystal E Schiller, PhD – Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina
Presenter: Teresa A. Lillis, Ph.D. – Rush University Medical Center
Co-author: Devon A. Hansen, PhD, LMHC – Washington State University
Co-author: Mark McCauley, B.S. – Washington State University
Co-author: Hans. P.A. Van Dongen, PhD – Washington State University
Presenter: Avelina C. Padin, Ph.D. – Rush University Medical Center
Co-author: Natalie Stevens, Ph.D. – Rush University Medical Center