REFUDEPRE · Addressing Postpartum Depression in Refugees: Impact on Infants and the Role of Home Visiting Programs
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2020-09-01 → 2022-08-31
- EU contribution
- €219,312
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Addressing Postpartum Depression in Refugees: Impact on Infants and the Role of Home Visiting Programs
Mental health disorders during the perinatal period, particularly perinatal depression, affect 15% of women worldwide. Forced migrant women have a higher risk of developing perinatal mental health disorders, with a pooled prevalence of 33,5%. Postpartum mental health can interfere with the mother’s ability to care for her baby and impact the development of the child. However, there is limited evidence about the effects of poor postpartum mental health on infants born to refugee mothers. Despite the importance of providing care that is culturally sensitive has been recognized, evidence of the potential of psychosocial interventions to enhance refugee mothers’ mental health after birth is scarce. In REFUDEPRE we took a mixed methods approach to understand the burden of postpartum mental health problems on refugee women and their offspring and shed light on the role of nurse home visiting programs to support the mental health and psycho-social well-being of refugee women after giving birth. The study was situated in Denmark. Denmark has one of the oldest universal home-visiting programs in Europe in which community health nurses (CHN) offer free home visits to all infant families. Since 2002, standardized data from CHNs records about infant development and maternal mental health are organized into a clinical database, the Child Health Database (CHD). In addition, from 2017 to 2020 an enhanced home visiting model was implemented to support the integration and well-being of refugee families in Danish society - the Health Nurses Strengthen Integration. In this enhanced program, CHNs in 15 municipalities were trained in cultural competencies and offered extra visits with a focus on parenting, child development, and Danish culture and systems (i.e. healthcare, and education). In summary, results from REFUDEPRE demonstrate that postpartum mental health problems are associated with an increased risk of infant regulatory, motor, and communication problems regardless of mothers’ migration background and that challenges in the mother-child relationship mediate this association. Nonetheless, findings suggest that infants born to primiparous refuge mothers, independent of the mother’s length of stay in Denmark, are more likely to show infant regulatory problems at 8-11m, after adjusting for social and obstetric risk factors, and maternal mental health problems. Our qualitative study with health nurses and refugee women highlights the practices that enhance refugee mothers’ resources and psychological well-being and how health nurses navigate individual and systemic challenges to care for refugee women who experience mental health challenges.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
REFUDEPRE will take a mixed-methods approach to understand the burden of postpartum depression on refugee women and their offspring and shed light on the role of home visiting programs lead by health nurses to support the mental health of refugees after giving birth. Postpartum Depression (PPD) is the most common mental health disorder after birth, and refugee women are at increased risk of developing it. When untreated, PPD can interfere with the mother’s ability to care for her baby and thus impact the development of the child. However, no research to date has studied these links among refugees, who are also exposed to other social risk factors that affect both maternal and child health. Besides, few studies have investigated refugee mothers’ mental health needs after pregnancy, and evidence on psychosocial interventions that support such mental health needs is lacking. Building on the analysis of the Danish Child Health Database (CHD), and qualitative interviews to refugee and health nurses participating in the innovative Health Nurses Strengthen integration, the Danish home visiting program for refugee families, I will be able to fill these gaps. Given the increased flow of refugees in Europe, results will be both academically relevant and informative to the design of public health programs and policies aimed at reducing mental health inequalities in refugee groups. I will significantly benefit from a placement at the Research Centre for Migration, Ethnicity, and Health (MESU) at University of Copenhagen as it congregates experts in the field of immigrant and refugee health connected to a large network of international researchers and policymakers. With the support of the MSCA fellowship, I will also acquire skills in using large national and register databases and will be able to apply my expertise in qualitative methods to unpack the mental health benefits of home visiting for refugee women.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET · KOBENHAVNCoordinatorDenmark
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union