Integrating Services in the Recognition and Management of Postpartum Depression

Abstract

Our study, completed in 1999, linking a mother-baby unit with Maternal and Child Health Nurses (MCHNs) with education, liaison and prioritised tertiary assessment and admission is presented, and issues of service delivery and satisfaction are highlighted. Two hundred and forty three women were recruited antenatally and followed to up to nine months postpartum, 133 forming the study group and 110 the control. MCHNs in the study group were offered an intensive education package, with ongoing six weekly liaison meetings. The intervention was welcomed and feedback positive. Women in the study and control group did not differ in their levels of depression throughout the study. Differences, however, in adjustment to motherhood emerged between women in well-supported affluent areas and those in under-resourced lower socioeconomic areas. MCHNs were seen by women in all areas as the key people to turn to. Those in the lower socioeconomic areas reported greater difficulties in providing a service, and women in these areas were less likely to access services external to their region. Implications for the development of further services and the linking of these supports are discussed.