Abstract
Background: Psychiatric illness is a leading indirect cause of maternal mortality. Earlier studies suggest serious discrepancies in the training and knowledge of midwives with regard to perinatal mental health.
Aims: To explore the knowledge and experience of student midwives in the care of women with perinatal mental health problems.
Methods: A modified questionnaire was distributed to student midwives near completion of 3-year and 78-week midwifery programmes.
Results: Students often under-estimated the risk of women with existing mental health problems developing a serious mental health problem during pregnancy or in the postpartum period. Students felt ill-prepared and lacked confidence in caring for women with serious mental health problems.
Conclusion: Recommendations from the findings of this study indicate (1) a review of undergraduate midwifery education in relation to perinatal mental health is needed; (2) a larger study, involving a more diverse sample of students, would enable generalisation to a wider population.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 32-39 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | British Journal of Midwifery |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 29 Dec 2014 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 02 Jan 2015 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2015 MA Healthcare Ltd
Keywords
- Education
- Perinatal mental health
- Practice
- Quantitative
- Questionnaire survey
- Student midwives
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Maternity and Midwifery
