Mindful moms: acceptability and impact of co-designed and digitally delivered video meditations for pregnant and parenting women with opioid use disorder.
Sarah E Lord, Deepika Rao
Annals of medicine December 1, 2025 DOI: 10.1080/07853890.2025.2486585 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Pre-post study Pilot study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 20 |
| Population | Pregnant and parenting women with opioid use disorder in recovery from rural northern New England |
| Intervention | Mindfulness meditation videos |
| Duration | 2-week intervention |
| Topics | Addiction Meditation |
| Keywords | Digital delivery Stress |
| Citations | 1 |
| Key points | Digitally delivered meditation videos significantly reduced perceived stress and increased mindfulness among women in recovery from opioid use disorder. |
Abstract
Perinatal opioid use disorder (OUD) remains a public health epidemic. Stress, anxiety and depression are disproportionately high among this population and are associated with poor recovery outcomes. Mindfulness interventions show promise for supporting recovery for women. This paper reports results of a pilot study to evaluate initial efficacy and acceptability of digitally delivered mindfulness meditation videos to reduce stress and promote mindfulness among women in recovery. Women with lived experience of OUD were recruited from three outpatient programs that provided care to pregnant and parenting women with a history of opioid use in rural northern New England (2 maternity care settings that offered buprenorphine as part of their service menu and 1 academic substance use treatment setting). In a pre-post study design, participants were randomly assigned to receive four of 16 short meditation videos, each delivered by email in a survey link over a 2-week period (2 per week) Videos were co-designed in earlier work with representative end-users, guided by evidence-based mindfulness interventions. Assessment included the Perceived Stress Scale and the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale. Participants rated each video on usefulness, enjoyability, ability to lower anxiety, and intention to use in the future. Participants also provided open-ended feedback about the videos. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, paired t-tests, and generalized linear modeling. A total of 20 women, ages 24-36 years, completed the pilot study. Most participants (95%) were white and non-Hispanic, reflecting the rural region. Marginal mean perceived stress scores decreased significantly from 21.49 to 19.85 [p = 0.05, d = 0.43] and mean mindfulness scores increased significantly from 3.47 to 3.76 [p = 0.04, d = 0.45]. Overall, the meditation videos were rated as highly acceptable and useful and a majority (80%) indicated intention to use the meditations in the future. Digitally delivered meditation videos were highly acceptable and useful to participants and the low dose intervention reduced stress and improved mindfulness. Findings inform directions for future research with larger samples to evaluate the effectiveness of this accessible digital intervention to support women in recovery and strategies for broadly implementing the intervention.
Comparable studies
Other non-randomized and open-label trials on addiction, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pilot study of the 5-HT2AR agonist psilocybin in the treatment of tobacco addiction Psychiatrically healthy nicotine-dependent smokers | 2014 | Open-label pilot study | n = 15 |
| Psilocybin-Occasioned Mystical Experiences in the Treatment of Tobacco Addiction Smokers | 2015 | Open-label pilot study | n = 15 |
| Ketamine Psychedelic Therapy (KPT): A Review of the Results of Ten Years of Research Alcoholic patients | 1997 | Controlled clinical trial | n = 211 |
| First study of safety and tolerability of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine-assisted psychotherapy in patients with alcohol use disorder. Patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) following community alcohol detoxification | 2021 | Open-label safety and tolerability proof-of-concept study | n = 14 |
| The Psychedelic Debriefing in Alcohol Dependence Treatment: Illustrating Key Change Phenomena through Qualitative Content Analysis of Clinical Sessions Participants in a psilocybin-assisted treatment study for alcohol dependence | 2018 | Open-label pilot (proof-of-concept) study with qualitative content analysis | n = 17 |
Citations in the library
Cites 12
- The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2003
- Mindfulness-based programs for substance use disorders: a systematic review of manualized treatments Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy July 29, 2020
- Telehealth Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement vs Usual Care in Individuals With Opioid Use Disorder and Pain: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Psychiatry April 1, 2024
- Mindfulness interventions for craving reduction in substance use disorders and behavioral addictions: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials BMC Neuroscience October 18, 2023
- Within-Person Modulation of Neural Networks following Interoceptive Awareness Training through Mindful Awareness in Body-Oriented Therapy (MABT): A Pilot Study. Brain Sciences September 30, 2023
and 7 more in the library