Acceptability, feasibility, and preliminary efficacy of a prenatal walking program for depressed pregnant women

Depression is common during pregnancy, yet pregnant women often do not engage in standard mental health treatments, which is concerning due to negative consequences associated with untreated maternal depression. Given that exercise can help to decrease depressive symptoms, and most pregnant women are able to safely engage in mild to moderate physical activity, physical activity interventions may be helpful in improving mood among pregnant women, even those with clinical levels of depression. In an open trial, we piloted a 10-week prenatal walking intervention in 18 depressed pregnant women (mean age=28.7 years). Participants wore a pedometer daily to track activity and attended 6 brief counseling sessions over the 10-week period. Indicators of acceptability and feasibility were assessed, as were changes in depression, physical activity, and other clinical outcomes. Results suggest that the prenatal walking intervention is feasible and acceptable. No adverse events were observed, and most women (83%) completed the intervention, attending on average 5.5 of 6 intervention sessions. Findings also support preliminary efficacy of the intervention: depression scores were reduced by endpoint, and physical activity levels increased based on self-report and objective measurement. Women also reported lower anxiety, and positive changes in affect at endpoint. Participants reported high satisfaction on a questionnaire. Though preliminary, findings suggest that a lifestyle physical activity intervention could be a valuable strategy to improve mood during pregnancy. Further research is needed to evaluate the intervention in a more rigorous randomized trial. If proven efficacious, this simple, low-cost intervention could be implemented in prenatal care settings

Implicit bias for suicide persists after ideation resolves

Individuals with suicidal ideation (SI), demonstrate an association between suicide-related information and the self that is automatic and outside conscious control (i.e., implicit). However, it is unclear whether this implicit bias is a state-like processes that will resolve with the reduction of SI or whether it is more trait-like and enduring. Given that implicit bias has been proposed as an indirect measurement of SI, understanding its dynamic nature is important. To investigate this, we recruited 79 (22 with a history of, but no current, SI; 57 with no lifetime history of SI) young adults who completed a structured interview assessing current and past SI. Participants also completed the Suicide Affect Misattribution Procedure assessing implicit association with suicide-relevant, negative but not suicide relevant, positive, and neutral stimuli. Participants with a history of SI demonstrated greater implicit bias for suicide compared to participants with no lifetime history, but did not significantly differ in their responses to negative, positive, or neutral stimuli. This indicates that suicide-relevant implicit bias may be a trait-like process that endures after resolution of SI. This has important implications for the conceptualization of cognitive bias in suicide and the use of these biases as implicit markers of SI