“I’ll look after the kids while you go and have a shower”: an evaluation of a service to address mild to moderate maternal perinatal mental health problems

Abstract

Background: Perinatal mental health (PMH) problems are a major public health concern because they may impair parenting ability which potentially has an immediate and long-term impact on the physical, cognitive and emotional health of the child.

Aims: We evaluated a Perinatal Support Service (PSS) which supports positive attachment between mothers with PMH problems and their child, to evidence its impact on maternal mental health and maternal-infant interaction.

Method: Using a mixed-methods approach, anonymised pre- and post-service outcomes data from 123 clients, 14 interviews and a focus group discussion were analysed.

Results: We found significant improvement in anxiety (t (55) = 6.96, p < 0.01, 95% CI [3.15, 5.70]), and depression (t (55) = 6.58, p < 0.01, 95% CI [3.03, 5.68]) on the HADS, and on the GAD-7 (t (12) = 4.541, p = 0.001, 95% CI [3.48, 9.90]) after the PSS. Anxiety post service (M = 9.08, SD = 4.96) was lower than baseline anxiety (M = 15.77, SD = 4.68). Receiving emotional and practical support contributed to improvements in mental health and mother–child interaction.

Conclusion: Given the paucity of PMH services in the UK, it is imperative that services such as the PSS continue to receive funding to address unmet PMH needs.

Keywords:

• Perinatal mental health
• evaluation
• anxiety
• depression
• voluntary sector

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Big Lottery Fund awarded a grant to Family Action to deliver the Perinatal Support Service. Family Action then awarded our research team the bid to conduct the independent evaluation via open competition.