Exploring changes in health visitors' knowledge, confidence and decision-making for women with perinatal mental health difficulties following a brief training package

Jones, Catriona; Jomeen, Julie; Glover, Lesley; Gardiner, Eric; Garg, Deepak; Marshall, Clare

Abstract

Rationale and objective: Perinatal Mental Health (PMH) is an issue that spans the spectrum of pregnancy and childbirth and is now acknowledged to be significant on a global level. Health visitors (HVs) are increasingly expected to extend their knowledge and to understand and identify PMH in the antenatal period and across the spectrum from mild/moderate to severe. While training has been shown to enable HVs to identify post-natal depression (PND) effectively and reduce the proportion of women at risk, the mechanisms underpinning this success are unclear. This paper reports on the findings of a mixed methods study aimed at examining the impact of a single half day training session on perinatal mental health problems (PMHP) on HVs knowledge, confidence and empowerment in relation to managing PMH. Methods: Findings from data gathered by Likert Scales and focus group discussions are presented. Results: Training can empower HVs to identify PMHP beyond PND and plays a vital role in promoting confidence. Conclusions: This research highlights the potential that training of this type has on service provision and delivery. In a resource-limited service, the feasibility of a brief training package has demonstrated positive results for health visitors, childbearing women and their families.

Citation

Jones, C., Jomeen, J., Glover, L., Gardiner, E., Garg, D., & Marshall, C. (in press). Exploring changes in health visitors' knowledge, confidence and decision-making for women with perinatal mental health difficulties following a brief training package. European journal for person centered healthcare, 3(3), 384-391. https://doi.org/10.5750/ejpch.v3i3.1012

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 1, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Sep 3, 2015
• Deposit Date: Sep 25, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 23, 2017
• Journal: European journal for person centered healthcare
• Print ISSN: 2052-5656
• Electronic ISSN: 2052-5648
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 3
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 384-391
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.5750/ejpch.v3i3.1012
• Keywords: Childbirth; Decision-making; Health visitors; Perinatal mental health; Person-centred healthcare; Person-centred mental health; Post-natal depression; Training packages
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/379306
• Publisher URL: http://ubplj.org/index.php/ejpch/article/view/1012
• Additional Information: This is the authors' accepted manuscript of an article published in: European journal for person centered healthcare, 2015, v.3, issue 3