Evidence Based Holistic Nursing

So most research I found discussing postpartum depression (PPD) covered postnatal treatment or pre/postnatal screening and treatment but ONLY ONE actually addressed it via family education and prevention strategies as a program taught during the perinatal period.
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Remember, PPD is extremely common, it’s the number one perinatal complication and su***de is the number one cause of maternal death-please see my previous two posts to understand the epidemic that is PPD. Education and prevention should be of up most important when it comes to addressing the PPD crisis.
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The program was developed by a nurse and training is offered to those who work in women’s health. Please spread the word and let’s all do our part in smashing the taboo & crisis that is PPD! Checkout the info on the training here👉🏼 http://mbpti.org/programs/mbcp/mbcp-mindfulness-based-childbirth-and-parenting/
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Side note: the creator of the course and others have since 2010 done small scale randomized control trials on the program with similar positive results, please check out the public access literature review titled “Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting (MBCP): Innovation in Birth Preparation to Support Healthy, Happy Families” here 👉🏼 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5645068/
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Research Review Reference:
Duncan, L.G. & Bardacke, N. (2009). Mindfulness-based childbirth and parenting education: promoting family mindfulness during the perinatal period. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 19, 190-202. doi: 10.1007/s10826-009-9313-7
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@ Miami, Florida

RESEARCH PREVIEW:🧐
📋FACT:
Yes, there is a hormonal shift that occurs post birth which can lead to what is dubbed “baby blues,” however, that biochemical shift is only☝🏼out of infinite mind-body-spirit reasons why some women suffer “baby blues” at all and why feelings of depression and emotional instability can extend the defined “baby blues” period of the first two weeks postpartum (PP), leading to a diagnoses of PPD (Clevesy, Gatlin, Cheese, & Strebel, 2019).
📋FACT:
PPD negatively impacts infant-mother bonding & infant mental/physical development (Clevesy et al, 2019). Which is why (in 2015) the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, & Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) endorsed routine perinatal screenings for mood disturbances & in 2016 the Council on Patient Safety in Women’s Healthcare (CPSWH) created a “Maternal Safety Bundle” to arm practitioners with a standardized version of the latest evidence based practices/tools necessary to address maternal mental health (Clevesy et al, 2019).
📋FACT:
Yet, the prevalence of PPD is 10-20% (making it the number one complication), su***de is the #1 cause of maternal death, no standardized PPD screening measure/nationally mandated protocol exists & no national screening rates available for PPD in the USA, thus it is severely under diagnosed and subsequently under treated (Clevesy et al, 2019).
🤨WHY?
It’s no question that screening increases detection & treatment (Clevesy et al, 2019), however, breaking the taboo through education, community involvement, encouraging a comunal responsibility to parenting/motherhood as holistic methods to address the multifactorial crisis that is PPD, are there any such evidence-based holistic practices? Sadly I only found 1 but promising pilot study/program based out of the University of California San Diego Center for Mindfulness. So stay tuned for the full review!

Clevesy, M.A., Gatlin, T.K, Cheese, C., & Strebel, K. (2019). A project to improve postpartum screening practices among provider’s in a community women’s healthcare clinic. Nursing for Women’s Health Journal, 23(2), 21-30. doi: 10.1016/j.nwh.2018.11.005 21

Here’s some food for thought, did you know according to the that nationally 1 in 9 women experience postpartum depression (PPD), with some states reporting rates as high as 1 in 5!
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Now, gestational diabetes (GD) rates vary from 2-10% of pregnancies & we screen diligently for it 👏🏼 BUT what do we do for women prenatally to help them prepare for the postpartum period? 🤷🏽‍♀️ With those numbers I mentioned earlier on PPD, a mother to be is more likely to suffer from PPD than GD! Clearly a pamphlet on PPD handed to a Mother within 24hrs postpartum is not enough. To often, the focus after birth goes to the baby while the Mother often silently deals with one of the greatest physical and emotional transitional events of her life (helloooo I wish I had been given a heads up about that). The transition period into motherhood felt more like a hazing for me and I can’t help but wonder if it would have been any different if I had known to prepare for it the way I prepared for birth. I needed a postpartum plan besides my birth plan, I needed community. 🌀 If you been following me from the start, you know I’ve been on a LONG hiatus from this account. Reason being, I’m a new mom forever learning how to keep my s**t together 😅 I know I suffered from a level of PPD (which is different from the baby blues) and now I’m setting out to find out if there are any evidence based practices on prenatal care & PPD. Do you work with prenatal post natal women? What do you do to screen/help prevent/minimize PPD?
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Stay tuned!
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Side note: this is a 📸 of my Cataleia and I , this is our community and once I found it our lives changed for the better. I’m forever grateful 🙏🏼

RESEARCH PREVIEW
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🙋🏽‍♀️Raise your hand if you love aromatherapy!
🙋🏽‍♀️🙋🏽‍♀️Better yet, if you would love to see it implemented as a complimentary/alternative therapy offered by nurses to hospital patients?
👆🏼That’s exactly what the folks in the research article did and they share the why and how they did it so that you too can get inspired to do the same in your clinical setting.
🌱According to the National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy (as cited in Conlon et al., 2016, p. 389), aromatherapy is “the art & science of using naturally extracted aromatic essences from plants to balance, harmonize, & promote the health of body, mind, & soul.”
🌱And most importantly, these essential oils (EOs) are only considered pure, true essential oils when extracted by distillation with steam and/or water and not with chemicals (Conlon et al., 2016).
🌱Clinical aromatherapy is a growing evidence based minimally invasive integrative approach to whole person healing such as providing relief from common symptoms of pain, nausea, anxiety, & sleeplessness (Conlon et al., 2016).
🌱Nurses are perfectly positioned to offer aromatherapy as an independent first line or complimentary nursing intervention at the bedside, in line with the holistic nursing principle of moving along the intervention spectrum from less to more invasive interventions (Conlon et al., 2016).
🌱However, according to Tisserand & Young (as cited in Conlon et al., 2016), standard administration, safety, & quality control remain a major concern re: clinical applications of EOs.
📋With these points in mind, Conlon et al. (2016) conducted a 6 month pilot study in a pediatric: general, intensive care, & ambulatory unit to introduce EOs at the bedside.
📋73 of the 77 nurses who administered the EOs reported positive patient outcomes (Conlon et al., 2016).
📋As a result, a new nursing guideline & online education module was developed & now most inpatient and ambulatory areas in that medical institution offer EOs as an integrative modality (Conlon et al., 2016).
📋BUT HOW DID THEY DO IT? Stay tuned for the next post to find out!
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Conlon, P.M., Haack, K.M., Rodgers, N.J., Dion, L.J., Cambern, K.L., Rohlik, G.M., . . . Ayers, S.J. (2016). Introducing essential oils into pediatric and other practices at an academic medical center. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 35(4), 389-396.
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