This qualitative investigation explored a relatively understudied aspect of cultural diversity: feminism and religion in the lives of religiously diverse women. More specifically, structured interviews were used to investigate views of religion, women's issues, gender roles, culture, and feminism for a small group of Muslim and Christian women living in the United States. The data were analyzed using consensual qualitative research methods (Hill, Thompson, & Williams, 1997). Findings indicated a complex relationship between feminism, gender roles, culture, and religion for these women with the majority of the Muslim women reporting that their religion supports feminist principles and identifying themselves as feminist. Christian women were less willing to endorse the feminist label. Implications for multicultural feminist practice are discussed.

Objective-This study examined the individual-level factors impacting pregnant women's access to mental health treatment for depression.Methods-A total of 1,416 pregnant women receiving prenatal care completed measures of depressive symptomatology, willingness to seek treatment for depression or anxiety, and perceived barriers to seeking such care.Results-Women with Beck Depression Inventory scores {greater than or equal to; ≥}16 (indicating possible depression) (N=183) were more likely than women with lower scores (N=1,233) to identify the following barriers: cost, lack of insurance, lack of transportation, long waits for treatment, previous bad experience with mental health care, and not knowing where to go for treatment. Lower income was correlated with increased endorsement of cost and transportation as barriers. Conclusions-Resultssuggest that addressing financial and logistical barriers through changes in mental health services and policy will improve access to care for antenatal depression. However, attending to these issues alone will not address additional important barriers to care such as lack of trust.Antenatal depression affects approximately 10% of women during pregnancy (1), and rates among low-income pregnant women may be as high as 27.6% (2). It is associated with psychological and physical morbidity, including poor birth outcomes (3), and increased rates of suicide (4).Study of perinatal mental health services is critical both because of these negative sequelae and because the perinatal period presents a unique window of opportunity for more frequent contact with the health system. Preventive and care coordination resources are often available during pregnancy, although they may not be available at other times. This is especially true for low-income women, the majority of whom receive their health care exclusively in the obstetric setting (5).Despite the increased contact of pregnant women with the health system, low rates of antenatal depression detection have been well documented (6). Moreover, although there is evidence that treatment is effective (7,8), many pregnant women with depression go untreated (9), and poor women are particularly unlikely to access mental health treatment NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript (10). Although some studies have documented which pregnant women are more likely to be receiving mental health care (9), they have not examined why many do not.The few studies examining barriers to depression care for women have identified financial and logistical barriers (6,11). Although cost is especially relevant for low-income women (2), many of these women have access to Medicaid during pregnancy, suggesting the existence of other potentially unique barriers. This study explored patient-level barriers to mental health care, with an emphasis on lowincome pregnant women. The goals were to establish how willing pregnant women were to seek treatment for depression or anxiety, as well as to examine the primary factors that might have...

Objective-This study examined the individual-level factors impacting pregnant women's access to mental health treatment for depression.Methods-A total of 1,416 pregnant women receiving prenatal care completed measures of depressive symptomatology, willingness to seek treatment for depression or anxiety, and perceived barriers to seeking such care.Results-Women with Beck Depression Inventory scores {greater than or equal to; ≥}16 (indicating possible depression) (N=183) were more likely than women with lower scores (N=1,233) to identify the following barriers: cost, lack of insurance, lack of transportation, long waits for treatment, previous bad experience with mental health care, and not knowing where to go for treatment. Lower income was correlated with increased endorsement of cost and transportation as barriers. Conclusions-Resultssuggest that addressing financial and logistical barriers through changes in mental health services and policy will improve access to care for antenatal depression. However, attending to these issues alone will not address additional important barriers to care such as lack of trust.Antenatal depression affects approximately 10% of women during pregnancy (1), and rates among low-income pregnant women may be as high as 27.6% (2). It is associated with psychological and physical morbidity, including poor birth outcomes (3), and increased rates of suicide (4).Study of perinatal mental health services is critical both because of these negative sequelae and because the perinatal period presents a unique window of opportunity for more frequent contact with the health system. Preventive and care coordination resources are often available during pregnancy, although they may not be available at other times. This is especially true for low-income women, the majority of whom receive their health care exclusively in the obstetric setting (5).Despite the increased contact of pregnant women with the health system, low rates of antenatal depression detection have been well documented (6). Moreover, although there is evidence that treatment is effective (7,8), many pregnant women with depression go untreated (9), and poor women are particularly unlikely to access mental health treatment NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript (10). Although some studies have documented which pregnant women are more likely to be receiving mental health care (9), they have not examined why many do not.The few studies examining barriers to depression care for women have identified financial and logistical barriers (6,11). Although cost is especially relevant for low-income women (2), many of these women have access to Medicaid during pregnancy, suggesting the existence of other potentially unique barriers. This study explored patient-level barriers to mental health care, with an emphasis on lowincome pregnant women. The goals were to establish how willing pregnant women were to seek treatment for depression or anxiety, as well as to examine the primary factors that might have...

counseling center staff and directors have argued that there has been an increase in severity of psychological concerns among university counseling center clients (R.

Women's sexual functioning in the postpartum period is understudied given its potential impact on women's mental health and their relationships with their partners. The sexual functioning of women with postpartum depression (PPD) in particular is not well characterized. The goals of this study were to examine factors associated with the sexual functioning of postpartum women and to compare the long-term sexual functioning of depressed postpartum women treated with interpersonal psychotherapy with a group of postpartum women who had never been depressed. Depressed (120) and never depressed (56) postpartum women were enrolled. Self-report questionnaires and clinician-rated measures were completed at initial entry to study, immediately post-treatment, and at 6, 12, and 18 months post-treatment. Analyses revealed significant differences in sexual interest between depressed and never depressed postpartum women (t (171) = 11.82, p <0.001). Although sexual interest improved significantly following treatment for depression (t (104) = -3.18, p < 0.01), those women who fully recovered continued to experience less interest (F (2, 140) = 32.24, p < 0.0001) and less sexual satisfaction through 2 years postpartum than never depressed women. These findings suggest that differences in sexual functioning exist between depressed and never depressed postpartum women, even after depressed women are treated and have recovered from their depression. Clinicians should inquire about changes in sexual functioning when treating women with PPD.