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ABSTRACT
Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders (PMADs) engender significant and increasing personal, social, developmental, and economic burdens to women, children, families, and global public health. In the US, a Master of Social Work (MSW) elective course, Introduction to Maternal Mental Health, was created to prepare future social workers to better understand, detect, intervene, and advocate with women struggling with perinatal mental health concerns. A pilot study used pre–post-surveys (N = 10) and a focus group to examine students’ knowledge acquisition, course satisfaction, and perceived self-efficacy. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test showed a statistically significant difference between pre- and post-survey course content knowledge scores. Positive focus group feedback and survey outcomes suggest that students benefitted from the course in terms of increased learning and professional efficacy in maternal mental health; however, the study should be replicated using a larger sample and comparison group. The course outline provided may be used to develop a similar course or to infuse maternal mental health content into existing courses. The paper concludes with implications and recommendations for social work educators.
Acknowledgments
Thank you to our enthusiastic students who participated in the first offering of the maternal mental health course and who agreed to take part in this research.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Rebecca J. McCloskey
Rebecca J. McCloskey is a doctoral student in the College of Social Work at The Ohio State University. She is in the candidacy phase of the program. Rebecca earned a BA from Seton Hall University and a MSW from The Ohio State University. As a licensed social worker since 2002, she has worked with children, their families, and perinatal women via case management, advocacy, and counseling services. Prior to the PhD program, she was a professor at Monmouth University’s School of Social Work. Her recent research focuses on postpartum depression (PPD), and the role of adverse childhood experiences and socioeconomic status. Rebecca also provides research support to Moms2B—a program working to reduce infant mortality and pre-term birth in central Ohio.
Sanjana Ragudaran
Dr. Sanjana Ragudaran has been at the School of Social Work at Monmouth University as a Specialist Professor since 2014. She was a social worker in Singapore in both micro and macro settings prior to moving to the United States. Sanjana interned at the Urban Justice Center in NYC while pursuing her PhD at the Graduate Center, CUNY. During this time, she was involved in research around the inequalities in the restaurant industry and domestic work especially with the undocumented population. Sanjana is currently working with fellow faculty on course evaluations, and involved in a Needs Assessment Survey.