A Theoretical FRAMEWORK for the Development of Perinatal Period Mental Health Guidelines in Zimbabwe

Abstract

The need to create a harmonized process of handling mental health issues cropping up during the perinatal period in Zimbabwe cannot be over emphasized. The number of pregnant women needing perinatal management is growing. The number of trained midwifery nurse practitioner is also growing contributed from different nursing schools meaning different practice methodologies necessitating national guidelines to be adopted. A search of the literature revealed that the British Columbia guidelines provided a framework which could be adopted and adapted for use in the formulation of best practices guidelines to advance collaborative and supportive care as it applies to perinatal health care and client-centred childbirth. The guidelines were premised on the inkling that the use of the ideal strategy and a coordinated approach results in appropriate identification and effective management of mental pathology. The framework and the resultant guidelines, were able to guard against disturbances in the mental wellbeing of the women, whilst excluding the presence of mental disorders. The pillars of the framework we adopted to address dimensions namely: of instruction and avoidance, assessment and the verdict, therapy and self-administration, adapting and backup linkages. The adopted framework facilitates recognition, diagnosis, management and keeping track of ladies with identified mental health challenges. These were conceptualized as recognition, diagnosis, management and follow-up, giving a more promotive and preventive flair to the Zimbabwean perinatal mental health guidelines. Therefore, the theoretical framework for guidelines in mental health views mental stability is an interconnected quadlet of recognition of the tell-tail signs of the disease, diagnosis of the condition, management of the disease and follow-up of the those who have been successfully managed for possible relapses.

Postnatal Mothers’ Perceptions on the Uptake of Intra Uterine Contraceptive Device (IUCD) Family Planning Method among Women at Mpilo Maternity Postnatal Ward, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe: A Case Study Approach

“…There has been a slight increase of IUCD uptake from There was a total of 15 participants for in-depth interviews having a median age of 32 years ranging from 20 to 46 years with a bias towards younger women age group. As a referral hospital, postnatal women were a higher risk group for either previous complicated births, hypertension, diabetes mellitus or delayed labour [40] making them suitable candidates for IUCD use inquiry. Ninety percent of the women had attained secondary and tertiary A statistically significant majority of the participants were married (67%) compared to those who were single (***p < 0.05; [married vs single]).…”