Having our say: African-American and Latina mothers provide recommendations to health and mental health providers working with new mothers living with postpartum depression
“…One participant explained her family situation, responding to a question regarding her support network with “nobody really … my sisters are in New York City, my father was a drunk, my mother was a crack head, so you can add it up…. I keep my distance from them” (Keefe, Brownstein‐Evans, & Rouland Polmanteer, , p. 503). Another explained the difficulty of having no support postpartum:It is hard because there is only us here, my husband and I.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…One participant denoted, “All women need help to do what they need to do. Even if it is a strong mother who has it all down pat, she still needs a bit of help” (Keefe et al, , p. 505). Participants also noted how getting out of the home and sharing with others aided their recovery.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…It helps a lot to see that you are not the only one who is going through that. And I think that is a little comforting (Keefe et al, , p. 506).…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…I was getting hit on my whole 9 months that I was pregnant…. [I] delivered her with a black eye, he beat me so bad 3 days before I had her” (Keefe et al, , p. 502).…”
Postpartum depression (PPD) is a significant public health concern due to the physical, emotional, economic, and life course outcomes. Rates of PPD are significantly higher for marginalised populations and can impact low-income, minority, and/or immigrant women differently when compared to white middle-class women. Commonly studied negative effects of PPD include poor health outcomes, mother-child bonding challenges, and negative child educational outcomes. However, research surveying the postpartum experience and negative outcomes among marginalised women is sparse. This study implemented a qualitative meta-interpretive synthesis (QIMS) methodology to synthesise themes across 12 qualitative research articles surveying postpartum experiences of marginalised women in North American countries. Articles included in the QIMS were extracted from online databases from a 10-year window spanning January 2008-2018. The guiding research question was "What are the PPD experiences of women belonging to marginalized populations?" Constant comparative analysis was used with coding in atlas.ti and themes were synthesised with input of all three authors. Five main themes emerged. The themes are (a) intersections of PPD and poverty, (b) culture and PPD, (c) pressures of mothering, (d) strengths and coping, and (e) abuse affects my PPD experience. Subthemes such as "I keep it to myself" relating to cultural response to PPD and idealised mothering were also discovered. Implications for social workers, nurses, and future research are discussed.
“…One participant explained her family situation, responding to a question regarding her support network with “nobody really … my sisters are in New York City, my father was a drunk, my mother was a crack head, so you can add it up…. I keep my distance from them” (Keefe, Brownstein‐Evans, & Rouland Polmanteer, , p. 503). Another explained the difficulty of having no support postpartum:It is hard because there is only us here, my husband and I.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…One participant denoted, “All women need help to do what they need to do. Even if it is a strong mother who has it all down pat, she still needs a bit of help” (Keefe et al, , p. 505). Participants also noted how getting out of the home and sharing with others aided their recovery.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…It helps a lot to see that you are not the only one who is going through that. And I think that is a little comforting (Keefe et al, , p. 506).…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…I was getting hit on my whole 9 months that I was pregnant…. [I] delivered her with a black eye, he beat me so bad 3 days before I had her” (Keefe et al, , p. 502).…”
Postpartum depression (PPD) is a significant public health concern due to the physical, emotional, economic, and life course outcomes. Rates of PPD are significantly higher for marginalised populations and can impact low-income, minority, and/or immigrant women differently when compared to white middle-class women. Commonly studied negative effects of PPD include poor health outcomes, mother-child bonding challenges, and negative child educational outcomes. However, research surveying the postpartum experience and negative outcomes among marginalised women is sparse. This study implemented a qualitative meta-interpretive synthesis (QIMS) methodology to synthesise themes across 12 qualitative research articles surveying postpartum experiences of marginalised women in North American countries. Articles included in the QIMS were extracted from online databases from a 10-year window spanning January 2008-2018. The guiding research question was "What are the PPD experiences of women belonging to marginalized populations?" Constant comparative analysis was used with coding in atlas.ti and themes were synthesised with input of all three authors. Five main themes emerged. The themes are (a) intersections of PPD and poverty, (b) culture and PPD, (c) pressures of mothering, (d) strengths and coping, and (e) abuse affects my PPD experience. Subthemes such as "I keep it to myself" relating to cultural response to PPD and idealised mothering were also discovered. Implications for social workers, nurses, and future research are discussed.
“…In contrast, they described their ideal provider as a “trustworthy woman who takes the time to sit and talk in an open, non-critical way, who listens, and who expressed care and concern…who is a warm ‘regular person’…” (Abrams et al, 2009, p. 543). This additional psychological barrier, negative views of medication and desire to have someone listen, also emerged as a prominent theme in a second qualitative study assessing the views of low-income, Latina and African American mothers about post-partum depression and treatment (Keefe et al, 2016). …”
Maternal depression is a prevalent public health problem, particularly for low-income mothers of young children. Intervention development efforts, which often focus on surmounting instrumental barriers to care, have not successfully engaged and retained women in treatment. Task-sharing approaches like Listening Visits (LV) could overcome key instrumental and psychological barriers by leveraging the access of trusted, community caregivers to deliver treatment. A recent randomized controlled trial (RCT) demonstrated the efficacy of LV delivered by non-mental-health providers as compared to usual care. The present report presents results from a follow-up phase of that RCT during which participants who had completed LV were followed for an additional 8 weeks and completed measures of depression and quality of life. In addition, participants who were initially randomized to the wait-list control group received LV and were assessed. Treatment gains previously observed in participants completing LV were enhanced during the 8-week follow-up period. Participants receiving LV during the follow-up period experienced significant improvement in depressive symptoms. Results demonstrate the sustainability of LV delivered by non-mental-health providers, and provide preliminary evidence for the replicability of this approach in a sample of predominately low-income pregnant women and mothers of young children.
Black mothers with young children have encountered pernicious, multidetermined, racial disparities in the United States for centuries. However, disorders, risks, and stressors among Black mothers with young children are presented in the extant literature with little attention to their strengths, supports, or culturally appropriate ways to intervene and this furthers racism and White supremacy. Further, incomplete and negative narratives about Black mothers are perpetuated. Therefore, this article uses the Afrocentric perspective to better understand the state of Black maternal mental health and supports for mental health. Culturally centered recommendations are presented to move the field of infant mental health toward racial justice‐oriented practice, policy, and research.
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