AIMSS STUDY
Advancing Insight into Maternal Social Support (AIMSS) is a multi-year study exploring how social support interventions during pregnancy affect occurrence of postpartum mood disorders (PPMD) and early parenting behaviors.
The Advancing Insight into Maternal Social Support (AIMSS) study is a National Institute of Mental Health funded, multi-part study seeking to understand how social support in the prenatal period may protect women from postpartum mood disorders.
Of particular interest is social support in the form of CenteringPregnancy (CP). CP is a group-based prenatal care model in which pregnant women are grouped by gestational age with other pregnant cohorts, and meet with their provider and peers for 90-120 minutes during 10 prenatal appointments and one 6-week postpartum appointment.
What We've Found
Findings from the initial study revealed that CenteringPregnancy participants with greater socioeconomic vulnerability reported significantly lower depression, anxiety, and stress at 6 months postpartum compared to moms who received traditional prenatal care.聽
What We're Researching
The current study will extend this maternal social support research with CenteringPregnancy (CP) graduates. CP graduates will complete online surveys at 6 months postpartum, and some will also participate in online focus groups at 12 months postpartum. The intention is to advance our understanding of social support interventions relevant to maternal mental health and early parenting behaviors, revealing targeted points of entry for prevention and intervention programs to alter maternal mood disorder risk, and to promote positive early parenting behaviors.
How do I get involved?
Check out our Current Study Participants page to get more information. If you’d like to participate, fill out the the form below and we’ll be in touch!
Project Aims
This project will examine the mental health benefits of CenteringPregnancy via the following Aims:
Aim 1
Collaborate with undergraduate students to use the pre-existing dataset from the initial AIMSS Study to determine under what conditions the CenteringPregnancy model affects perinatal mental health, delivery outcomes, and early parenting behaviors, compared to prenatal Care As Usual. Undergraduate research assistants (URAs) will be trained to develop research questions and appropriate statistical analyses to examine the longitudinal data of two time-points (e.g. pregnancy, 6-weeks postpartum) in determining the most relevant individual and group characteristics associated with perinatal and infant health outcomes.
Aim 2
Use a qualitative design to better understand particular impacts and influences of participating in the CenteringPregnancy program on mental health outcomes and early parenting. We will work with undergraduate students to recruit participants for focus groups, record and transcribe group sessions, and use Grounded Theory analysis.聽
Aim 3
Strengthen the College’s research environment and employ innovative approaches to a) enhance existing programs with new and sustainable initiatives to support faculty and student scholarly productivity, and b) engage URAs in collaborative research while mentoring and instructing them in research concepts and processes (e.g. research methodology, participant recruitment, ethical and professional standards, data collection and analysis, and dissemination through scholarly writing and presentation).聽
Expected Results
The results of this research will contribute to the existing knowledge base by advancing understanding of prenatal social support interventions with regard to improved mental health particularly within the first 12 months postpartum. Further, the project鈥檚 focus on clinical effectiveness and implementation outcomes will support sustainability and scalability of interventions involving group-based social support.
Read more about this exciting study
The current project has been approved by the 缅北禁地 IRB and is funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (R15MH12603-02).
Announcements
Meredith Faculty Earn National Institute of Mental Health Grant by Rocio Antelis, December 8, 2025