Our general approach can be titled developmental psychoneuroimmunology (PNI). PNI seeks to unravel interactions between psychological, neural, endocrine, and immune processes and how these processes impact health. More precisely, developmental PNI studies these interactions in early life and subsequent changes to health and immunity across the lifespan.
The mission of the Psychobiology of Stress & Health Lab is to take a biopsychosocial approach to health to investigate the impact of stress and stress-related disorders, namely depression and anxiety, on physical health across the lifespan.
Specifically, we focus on the biobehavioural mechanisms linking stress and health from a developmental perspective. We have a particular interest in: (1) maternal and paternal coping strategies when caring for children with chronic or complex health conditions; (2) patient/family navigation and peer-to-peer support for families of children/youth with complex care needs; & (3) biological (i.e. inflammatory and endocrine) mechanisms linking maternal prenatal depression and anxiety to birth weight, to postnatal stress response, and health.
At PSHL, we have examined behavioural and biological pathways of health, with a focus on the endocrine (HPA axis) and immune (inflammatory biomarkers) processes. In order to do that, we use psychiatric, behavioural, and biomedical methods. We also use mixed methods and qualitative analysis in our health services and clinical research with families of children with complex care needs, mainly around our NaviCare/SoinsNavi and related projects.
NaviCare/SoinsNavi is a free-of-charge, bilingual virtual navigational centre for NB children and families who have complex care needs. These needs may be due to physical, mental or behavioural complex health conditions. In addition to our team of over 30 people, our centre employs two patient navigators and we are now in the process of expanding our services to include peer-to-peer support for family members (children/youth, parents, and siblings). You can read about NaviCare/SoinsNavi here: www.navicarenb.ca
Our other main project about the PNI of pregnancy has been a multi-hospital site (NB, NS) prospective clinical study that investigated the impact of prenatal depressive symptoms and anxiety on maternal biomarkers (CRP, pro-inflammatory cytokines, vitamin D, cotinine, etc.) on birth outcomes.
About 10-12% of Canadian women suffer from prenatal depression. Prenatal depressive symptoms are common and severe, even when they do not reach clinical levels. Since depression and anxiety often co-occur, many pregnant women suffer from new or worsening anxiety symptoms. Prenatal depression may have a detrimental impact on fetal growth. Low birth weight, which is related to increased risk of death, illness, and developmental issues, places an economic burden on our healthcare system. This project investigated: (1) whether prenatal depressive and anxiety symptoms are differentially associated with increased inflammation; and (2) whether inflammation is a plausible mechanism linking prenatal depressive and anxiety symptoms to low birth weight.
Several Honours students worked on sub-parts of this project. Some have been involved as co-authors of publications with our pilot data. Ongoing manuscripts with preliminary findings are underway. This study resulted in a rich dataset hosted at our lab in the Psychology Department at Mount Allison University. This dataset (N = 165 pregnant women and their newborns) includes biomarkers, cord blood and birth outcomes, maternal self-reports, and clinical fetal variables. We would be delighted to collaborate with researchers potentially interested by our data!
