Promoting Healthy Brain Project (PHBP)

Promoting Healthy Brain Project (PHBP) was a randomized controlled trial (RCT) funded by the Perinatal Origins of Disease (POD): Research at the Maternal-Fetal Interface Strategic Research Initiative, supported by Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, its Stanley Manne Research Institute, and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMD). Conducted from 2019 to 2023, the study enrolled 17 participants to examine the impact of prenatal stress reduction on maternal well-being and early life neurodevelopment. This study compared a technology and mindfulness-enhanced version of the Mothers and Babies program to usual prenatal care, with the overarching goal of improving child neurodevelopmental trajectories by reducing maternal stress during pregnancy through the Mothers and Babies 1-on-1 program. The trial was conducted from the second trimester of pregnancy through the first 12 months of life. Throughout the intervention, all participants, both in the intervention group and control groups wore a wireless “smart” health sensing device (BioStamp Sensor – nPoint Device) that measured heart rate and motion. Mothers’ heart rate variability, self-reported stress, and emotions were monitored using the BioStamp Sensor and brief smartphone surveys. For mothers in the intervention group, patterns of prolonged stress triggered a “just-in-time adapted intervention” (JITAI) delivered to their smartphones. The booster intervention included activities to enhance skills learned in the Mothers and Babies program. 

Principal and Co-Investigators

Darius Tandon, PhD, Lauren S. Wakschlag, PhD

Contact Information

For more information or questions about our study, please feel free to reach out to our Director of Research Operations: Alicia Diebold, MSW 

Publications

• Cummings, P., Petitclerc, A., Moskowitz, J., Tandon, D., Zhang, Y., MacNeill, L. A., Alshurafa, N., Krogh-Jespersen, S., Hamil, J. L., Nili, A., Berken, J., Grobman, W., Rangarajan, A., & Wakschlag, L. (2022). Feasibility of passive ECG bio-sensing and EMA emotion reporting technologies and acceptability of just-in-time content in a well-being intervention: Considerations for scalability and improved uptake. Affective Science, 3(3), 849–861. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42761-022-00147-0
• Wakschlag, L. S., Tandon, D., Krogh-Jespersen, S., Petitclerc, A., Nielsen, A., Ghaffari, R., Mithal, L., Bass, M., Ward, E., Berken, J., Fareedi, E., Cummings, P., Mestan, K., Norton, E. S., Grobman, W., Rogers, J., Moskowitz, J., & Alshurafa, N. (2021). Moving the dial on prenatal stress mechanisms of neurodevelopmental vulnerability to mental health problems: A personalized prevention proof of concept. Developmental Psychobiology, 63(4), 622–640. https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.22057