What is the COVID-19 Moms and Infants Study?
This is a project developed to better understand the effect on young children of stress in our community and how the special relationship between a mom and her child may protect children from this stress. The project is based on a previous study, the Infant Development Study, and will specifically focus on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on maternal stress.
The goal of this study is to learn more about the role of social, physical, and environments such as crime, neighborhood walkability, and air pollution on stress in pregnant women or new moms, and how they may transmit that stress to their newborn child. We previously did a study just like this with over 500 mothers and infants who participated, but now we want to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic is influencing the stress of pregnant women and new mothers. Stress can lead to many negative health outcomes in adolescence and adulthood; therefore, it is important to prevent stress responses early in life. Your participation will help us plan future health programs and we hope to use this data to help us better understand the special needs of mothers during this pandemic
The study is run by Dr. Stacy Drury, a child psychiatrist who has been studying how early life events relate to children and their health, behavior, and moods for ten years. She is a Board Certified Child Psychiatrist and the Director of the Tulane Behavioral and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Laboratory (http://bangl.tulane.edu/).
You will complete two surveys about your pregnancy, and about your experience delivering your baby and going home after the hospital. These surveys can be completed over the phone. In addition, we will provide supplies for you to mail us a saliva sample. With your permission, we will also obtain your child's newborn genetic screening blood spot from the state testing lab.
We hope that what we learn in this study will help other mothers and babies during the COVID -19 pandemic or if another pandemic happens in the future.Your participation will also provide us with a better understanding of childhood stress outcomes for health research and policy.
You will be compensated for your time for completing each portion of the study. You will also get information about healthy child development and about different feelings moms have when they first have babies. We also have small gifts for you and your baby to thank you for your time.
Call or text our research lab at 504-656-6449 or email the BANGL lab at bangltulane@gmail.com.
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