Principal Findings
distractibility, depression, neurotic personality, anxiety
To our knowledge, this is the first RCT to examine the effectiveness of a digital GSH-MBI based on a WeChat mini program for alleviating maternal psychological distress and promoting infant neuropsychological development. Overall, the results imply that pregnant women who received digital GSH-MBI displayed less psychological distress (depression, anxiety, and pregnancy-related anxiety symptoms) compared with women in the control group at all postintervention time points. In addition, the digital GSH-MBI had a ripple effect on infant neuropsychological development, and the ripple effect on infants’ quality of mood at 6 weeks was mediated by mitigating pregnancy-related anxiety symptoms.We explored new possibilities for delivering psychological interventions to improve maternal and child health. We used the WeChat mini program as the delivery medium and included video- and audio-based dissemination of educational information and exercises. The digital GSH-MBI, based on a WeChat mini program, has several strengths for mental health care. First, the high flexibility of the digital GSH-MBI allows women to attend classes and practice mindfulness at any time and place. Second, access to the intervention is increased. The shortage of mental health services is a major challenge in mental health care in low- and middle-income countries [In this study, we noted the strongest treatment effects in 3 types of infant temperament at 6 weeks of age: quality of mood, distractibility, and adaptability. Higher scores of quality of mood represent a more negative mood, which is strongly associated with a neurotic personality in adults, both conceptually and empirically [Notably, the digital GSH-MBI played a role in infants’ quality of mood through mitigating pregnancy-related anxiety symptoms rather than anxiety and depression symptoms. This finding is consistent with existing studies, which showed that pregnancy-related anxiety is a stronger predictor of offspring’s developmental outcomes than general negative emotions experienced by the mother [Distractibility is characteristic of attentional regulation [We did not find significant between-group differences in infant temperament at 6 months of age. On the one hand, in line with other intervention studies, the effectiveness of interventions might naturally decline over time [