Journal article
Asking Women about Mental Health and Social Adversity in Pregnancy: Results of an Australian Population- Based Survey
Jane Yelland, Stephanie J Brown
BIRTH-ISSUES IN PERINATAL CARE | WILEY-BLACKWELL | Published : 2014
DOI: 10.1111/birt.12083
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Social adversity undermines health in pregnancy. The objective of this study was to examine the extent to which pregnant women were asked about their mental health and life circumstances in pregnancy checkups. METHOD: Population-based postal survey of recent mothers in two Australian states. FINDINGS: Around half of the 4,366 participants reported being asked about depression (45.9%) and whether they were anxious or worried about things happening in their life (49.6%); fewer reported being asked about relationship issues (29.6%), financial problems (16.6%), or family violence (14.1%). One in five women (18%) reported significant social adversity. These women were more likely to r..
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Funding Acknowledgements
We are extremely grateful to all of the women who completed the survey, to staff at the hospitals in South Australia and Victoria for assisting in the mail-out of surveys, and to staff in the Healthy Mothers Healthy Families research group for their contribution to the study. Particular thanks to Georgina Sutherland for data management and preliminary analyses of the survey data. This study was supported by an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council project grant, grants from the South Australian Department of Health and Victorian Department of Human Services, a National Health and Medical Research Council Career Development Fellowship (2008-2011), an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (2012-2015) awarded to SB, and by the Victorian government's Operational Infrastructure Support Program.