Social and emotional health in pregnancy and the early childhood years

Early identification and assessment of women and families with complex needs including mental health problems, domestic violence and drug and alcohol issues is becoming increasingly important. Our work in this area is examining how midwives and child and family health nurses identify and respond to women and families with complex social and emotional needs, examining effective service pathways and outcomes for women, infants and families. We have a specific interest in understanding how culture influences understandings of mental health issues in the perinatal period.

Current and recent studies and doctoral student work includes:

• The Perinatal Journey: The process and impact of psychosocial assessment (ARC linkage)
• A pilot study of the relationship between women's psychosocial risk, help seeking behaviour, service utilisation and outcomes
• Opportunistic screening for domestic violence by community health care providers for per-natal women (Western Sydney University Women's Fellowship)
• Perinatal pathways: A study of a specialised integrated case Management service for women at risk of poor perinatal mental health
• Pathways to residential parent services: A qualitative study exploring the experiences of women with children under 6 months of age
• Men's experience of traumatic birth
• Women's experience of pregnancy, birth and the perinatal period following an eating disorder (Western Sydney University ECR grant)
• Listening and learning: Stories of care and mothering from women receiving opioid treatment in the perinatal period
• Migrant and refugee women's experiences of postnatal depression: a metaethnographic study
• Refugee women's experience of becoming a parent in a new country: a metaethnographic study
• Parent experiences of refugee mothers and fathers in New South Wales, Australia (Western Sydney University Women's Fellowship)
• An historical snapshot of postnatal psyshosis in NSW  (Western Sydney University Women's Fellowship)

Collaborative research:

• Antenatal psychosocial assessment, depression screening and birth outcomes at Blacktown Hospital study (St John of God, Blacktown Hospital and Western sydney)
• A comparative effectiveness trail of integrated psychosocial assessment in the perinatal period led by the UNSW and St John of God Health Care

For further information of these studies please contact Professor Virginia Schmied or Professor Hannah Dahlen