RESEARCH DESIGN & METHODS RESULTS CONCLUSIONS INTRODUCTION ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE The Effects of Guided Imagery in Reducing Stress in Pregnant Adolescents Brittney Jones, OTS & Karla Ausderau, PhD, OTR Occupational Therapy Program, Department of Kinesiology- University of Wisconsin-Madison A Special Thanks To:  My research mentor, Dr. Karla Ausderau  My wonderful research teammates: Carlie Borhman, Lindsay Brooks, and Leanna Linzell  The SAPAR staff and participants, Terri Flynn and the Gertrude E. Gatson Fund  Dr. Mary Schneider and the OT faculty and staff  And to my family, friends, and classmates for their support  Prolonged stress can lead to adverse psychological and physical effects for both the mother and developing child (Keller et al., 2012)  Teen mothers are at an increased risk of medical complications during pregnancy because of stress (American Academy of Children & Adolescent Psychiatry, 2012 )  High rate of teen pregnancy and the long- term cost to individuals as well as society elevates the need for evidence –based interventions for stress management  Guided Imagery (GI) is a promising prevention strategy to manage stress in adult pregnant women (Jallo et al, 2008) Purpose  Investigate the effectiveness of using Guided Imagery for reducing perceived stress experienced among pregnant adolescents Hypothesis  GI intervention will reduce stress levels  Level of stress significantly decreased over time, p =.001, Partial eta squared =.71 Fig 1  Stress level significantly decreased between Session 1 & all other Sessions (Session 2 [p =.002] Session 3 [p <.001], & Session 4 [p =.002]). Remaining pairwise comparisons did not differ. Figure 1. PSM-9 Pre-test and Posttest Scores  PSM-9 mean post-test scores were significantly lower than mean pretest scores (paired-samples t-test, p <.001. Pre-test (M = 29.44, [SD = 10.20]), Posttest (M = 21.41, [SD = 7.09]), Fig. 2 Figure 2. Mean PSM-9 Pre-test and Posttest Scores for all 4 Sessions  Guided imagery lowered stress levels in pregnant adolescents; after an initial improvement in stress, subsequent reductions were stable  Average PSM-9 posttest scores from 4 GI sessions were lower than pretest scores, a second indication that GI reduces stress in pregnant teens  Explore intervention intensity in future studies to determine maximal benefit of GI Early detection of highly stressed and anxious pregnant women may be the key in reducing prenatal stress complications. Intervention programs that provide specific information and education, should also emphasize relaxation methods for pregnant women at increased risks of stress, including pregnant adolescents  Occupational Therapists (OT) are experts in lifestyle redesign  Preventative OT lifestyle redesign programs for pregnant adolescents should: incorporate GI into their daily lives, focus on reducing stress and removing environmental stressors, and teach teens effective stress management strategies in order to promote and maintain health. Participants  17 pregnant adolescents  Ages (M =16.53, [SD = 1.33])  In School-Age Parent Program MMSD Design and Intervention  Quasi-experimental design  Repeated measure design was used to test for difference in stress over 4 GI sessions  Participants were given an MP3 player with a 12 minute & 51 second GI audio recording Measures  Psychological Stress Measure (PSM-9)  9-item questionnaire to measure perceived level of stress, Likert style scale  Pretest and posttest before and after each GI session, difference scores analyzed Data Analysis  One-way repeated measures ANOVA and paired-samples t-test