Incorporating Skills for Managing Mood, Stress, and Sleep into a Gestational Weight Gain Intervention

Excessive gestational weight gain is associated with negative health outcomes for birthing individuals and their infants. Existing gestational weight gain interventions primarily address dietary intake and physical activity and have been minimally effective in preventing excess gestational weight gain. During pregnancy, psychosocial changes are common. Pregnant individuals may report changes in mood, increased stress, and poorer sleep quality, which may influence gestational weight gain. However, few gestational weight gain interventions target these psychosocial factors. To address this gap, we developed an eight-session behavioral weight management pilot intervention focused on managing stress, regulating mood, and optimizing sleep during pregnancy. In this paper, we describe the rationale for adding psychosocial factors to a gestational weight gain intervention, components of the intervention, observed pre-post weight changes, and acceptability of the intervention among a sample of pregnant individuals (N = 15). Results demonstrated that the most helpful components of the intervention were monitoring dietary intake and receiving information on nutrition. Participants also found text message support to be more helpful than face-to-face intervention sessions, telephone support, unscheduled check-in phone calls, and text messages. Additionally, gestational weight gain data, available for 11 participants, demonstrated that eight participants (72.7%) gained within or below Institute of Medicine guidelines for gestational weight gain. Overall, participants were satisfied with the intervention for gestational weight gain, highlighting the potential for this intervention to be tested in larger samples of pregnant individuals.