But what about us? Partner and family experiences of perinatal mental health care

Partners and wider families play a vital role in relation to women’s perinatal mental health. Clinical guidelines in the UK and internationally recommend that services treating women with perinatal mental health difficulties involve and support their families too. Yet, little is known about experiences of family inclusion in practice. I set out to address this. This thesis was connected to a wider study exploring experiences of perinatal mental health care in England. The broader study (for which I was the main researcher) included semi-structured interviews with 52 women who received treatment for a perinatal mental health difficulty, and 32 partners/family members identified by the women as offering them some support. I included questions within these 84 interviews about how services work with partners and families and examined responses using dyadic and thematic analysis. I found that families and family dynamics are central to understanding women’s perinatal mental health and interactions with services. Although it was the women who were diagnosed with perinatal mental health problems, their difficulties were often embedded within a complex and fraught interpersonal and wider social context. Yet instead of seeking to understand perinatal distress within this broader context – or critiquing the structures and gender norms that contributed to producing and maintaining it – services tended to focus on individual women (and babies), marginalising their families and diverting attention from the need for broader social change. The complexity of involving and supporting partners and wider families, coupled with anxiety about this among women and their families, reinforced the tendency to exclude families. I conclude that involving women’s families and providing the support they need is challenging but important. Services need to find ways to overcome barriers to family inclusion and to proactively challenge problematic gender norms and expectations, rather than allowing these to shape and guide practice

National Learner Satisfaction Survey: Pre-employment Training

Trinh Tu, Claire Lambert, Billie Lever Taylor, Claire Lister and Angela Klei

Experiences of Mental Health Care Among Women Treated for Postpartum Psychosis in England: A Qualitative Study

Postpartum psychosis has been found to affect 0.89-2.6 per 1000 women. Onset is typically rapid and severe. Early recognition and appropriate treatment are crucial for a good prognosis. Our aim in this study was to understand women's experiences of mental health care and services for psychosis in the postnatal period. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 women who reported being treated for postpartum psychosis. Findings were analysed thematically. Women reported that healthcare professionals across maternity and mental health services often lacked awareness and knowledge of postpartum psychosis and did not always keep them or their partners/families informed, supported, and involved. Women wanted better collaboration between and within services, and more efficient, appropriate, and timely care. They valued inpatient services that could meet their needs, favouring Mother and Baby Units over general psychiatric wards. Early Intervention in Psychosis services and specialist perinatal community mental health teams were also well liked

Experiences of Improving Access to Psychological Therapy Services for Perinatal Mental Health Difficulties: a Qualitative Study of Women's and Therapists' Views

Perinatal mental health difficulties are highly prevalent. In England, the Improving Access to Psychological Therapy (IAPT) programme provides evidence-based psychological treatment, predominantly in the form of brief manualized cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), to people with mild to moderate depression or anxiety. Yet little is known about the experiences of women referred to IAPT with perinatal mental health difficulties. The aim of this qualitative study was to investigate how women view IAPT support for perinatal mental health. We also gained the perspective of IAPT therapists. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twelve women who had been referred to and/or received therapy from IAPT during the perinatal period. Additionally, fourteen IAPT therapists participated in two focus groups. Thematic analysis was used. Key themes centred on barriers to access and the need to tailor support to (expectant) mothers. Women and therapists suggested that experiences could be improved by supporting healthcare professionals to provide women with more help with referrals, better tailoring support to the perinatal context, improving perinatal-specific training, supervision and resources, and offering a more individualized treatment environment. Overall, women reported positive experiences of support offered by IAPT for perinatal mental health difficulties. However, services should seek to facilitate access to support and to enable therapists to better tailor treatment