Abstract
Purpose
The objective of this review is to examine factors, during the perinatal period, that serve to protect women and infants from poor mental or physical outcomes most commonly associated with maternal adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).
Methods
The electronic databases of PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, CINAHL and Web of Science were searched. The searches were conducted using the following mesh terms and keywords: (‘adverse childhood experiences’ or ‘ACEs’) and (‘protective factor’ or ‘social support’ or ‘buffer’ or ‘resilience’) and (‘pregnan*’ or ‘prenatal’ or ‘postpartum’ or ‘maternal’ or ‘antenatal’). Studies that examined the association of maternal ACEs and protective factors during the perinatal period were included. A total of 317d articles were screened and 19 are included in this review. The quality of the articles was evaluated with the Newcastle–Ottawa-Scale (NOS).
Results and Conclusion
This review indicates a positive association between maternal ACEs and protective perinatal factors including social support, resiliency and positive childhood experiences.
Significance
Demonstrated associations between maternal ACEs and poor mental and physical outcomes for mother and baby make it critical to understand existing research regarding factors that may be protective against the effects of ACEs during the perinatal period. Despite a growing body of research showing the negative effects of maternal ACEs on health, less understood are protective factors which may counteract or lessen the effects of ACEs. An understanding of protective factors is necessary to inform how clinicians assess and provide care for ACE exposed perinatal women.
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Code Availability
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Borg, L.E., Alhusen, J.L. A Review of Factors that Serve to Protect Pregnant and Post-partum Women from Negative Outcomes Associated with Adverse Childhood Experiences. Matern Child Health J 27, 1503–1517 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-023-03689-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-023-03689-2