New research on maternal, child and adolescent mental health

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Published on Monday, 11 March 2019 Post

NPEU researchers Fiona Alderdice, Gracia Fellmeth, Jane Henderson, Olaa Mohamed-Ahmed, Charles Opondo, Maria Quigley and Maggie Redshaw have published their findings from three studies exploring mental health in mothers in the postnatal period and in children and adolescents.

The first study explored mediators of the association between mode of birth and maternal adjustment, and found that unplanned caesarean section and instrumental birth were associated with lower maternal satisfaction with labour, and this association was partly mediated by a number of psychosocial factors. This study highlighted some potential psychosocial support interventions to promote maternal adjustment following delivery. You can read this study, which has been published in BMC Women's Health.

The second study compared two approaches to identifying postnatal depression: a novel single self-reported item versus the standard Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). This study found that although agreement between the single item and the EPDS was low at three months postpartum, women identified as having depression by both methods had symptoms indicative of other psychological co-morbidities. The study is published in the Journal of Affective Disorders.

The third study was a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the impact of parental migration on child and adolescent physical and mental health and nutrition. The study found evidence of more depression, anxiety, suicide ideation and adverse nutritional outcomes among the children and adolescents of migrating parents compared to those of non-migrating parents. This study is published in The Lancet.