Raising Awareness of Postnatal Depression

Abstract

Berwickwide Community Health Service (BCHS) conducted a project during National Mothering Week that set out to raise community awareness of Postnatal Depression (PND) and to assess the need for establishing a PND support group in Northern Casey, Victoria. Target groups included mothers of young children, general practitioners (CPs) and the general community. A reference group consisting of professional and community representatives was involved in the planning, implementation and evaluation of all strategies. Approaches used included health education, professional development, information development, creating supportive environments, supporting community action, intersectoral collaboration and policy development. The project highlighted the need for a PND support group in Northern Casey and was successful in terms of raising awareness of PND, information development and dissemination, and needs assessment of mothers in Northern Casey. Mothering Week provided an ideal opportunity to give a relatively small project a larger, more attractive profile and provided an ideal vehicle to introduce the 'heavy' issue of PND in a forum that celebrated and raised the status of motherhood. Although as health promotion practitioners we are not encouraged to run ad hoc events and to strive instead for sustainable outcomes, this project showed that applying health promotion principles to one-off events such as Mothering Week can be very useful in needs assessment and in determining characteristics particular to the target group. The increase in knowledge and skills and the sense of ownership that participants can experience through participation in such a project can also foster a sense of community spirit that lays the groundwork for more sustainable, future projects.