Peri-Natal Mental Health: Factors, Impacts, and Government Initiatives

This report examines perinatal mental health, a significant concern for women during pregnancy and the postpartum period, particularly in Australia. It highlights the prevalence of conditions like depression and anxiety, and the government's efforts to address these issues through screening and initiatives. The report delves into various factors influencing perinatal mental health, including socioeconomic status, cultural beliefs, and access to healthcare, especially for vulnerable groups like refugee women and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. It emphasizes the impact of these factors on mental health outcomes, including the barriers to accessing services and the importance of early diagnosis and intervention. The report also references various studies and data to support its findings, underscoring the complex interplay of social, cultural, and economic factors in shaping perinatal mental health outcomes. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of addressing these factors to improve maternal and child health outcomes.

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Name of the Student
Name of the University

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Introduction
Every woman going through pregnancy and birth faces some changes in responsibilities
and roles during the first postnatal year which brings major changes socially and emotionally in
the life of the woman. During this time, there are greater chances of onset or relapse of the
problems related to mental health. This condition is known as a perinatal mental health condition
(Highet and Taylor, 2017). This condition is very common in which common symptoms are
depression and anxiety in the women in their postpartum period. In Australia, this mental
condition affects approximately 16% of women. Because of which the Australian government
advised women to undergo screening tests regularly (Buist, 2014). The Australian government is
taking various steps to broaden the health system according to which prevention is the first step
and they are focusing on the fact that without mental health there is no health. Funds were
provided by the National Perinatal Depression Initiative in 2008-2013 to different territories and
states so that the services for improving the perinatal mental health of women can be enhanced
(Rowe, Wynter, Burns and Fisher, 2016).
Factors Impacting Perinatal Mental Health:
Various screening programs are introduced by the government of Australia but their
implementation to reduce this mental condition is affected by several social and political factors.
These factors that influence mental health are lack of time for screening or taking one’s care,
appropriate funding for prevention or infrastructure for follow up, and insufficient training of
staff. Different social groups in Australia have different barriers in focussing on their mental
health and implementing preventive services. For example, women from refugee backgrounds
are unable to access health services in Australian because of various reasons like inappropriate
healthcare literacy and the absence of interpreters in hospitals. Additionally, these refugee

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women have a stigma related to the illness of mental health. Thus, they avoid medical screening
or other services to understand their condition regarding perinatal mental health during
pregnancy (Nithianandan et al., 2016).
According to several studies, it has been observed that in most of the Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander communities in Australia, pregnant women are isolated from their partners,
families, and communities for the pregnancy duration. This cultural belief influences greatly on
pregnant women during their crucial period. Due to their isolation from the families and familiar
friends and other people and extreme stress, they face excessive grief, anxiety, and loneliness at
the critical stage of their life which leads to perinatal mental health conditions after the birth of
their child. This practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders communities’ impact on the
normal procedure and pace of the child’s birth and consequently impacting the interaction
between mother and child and the development of the child (Ferguson-Hill, 2020). According to
some studies, it has been observed that the perinatal deaths among Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islanders community are much higher than non-indigenous people. The data is around 17.3 as
compared to 9.7 for every one thousand women (ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT
ISLANDER PERINATAL MENTAL HEALTH MAPPING PROJECT, 2014).
Around the world, it has been observed that the major barrier in improving the health of
mother and child is their socioeconomic status. This can also be observed in Australia and
various studies have been conducted to understand this issue completely. Through these studies,
it has been seen in Australia that socioeconomic status and the commencement of mental
disorders and psychological distress are associated with each other. Because of this association,
several mental disorders in women like perinatal mental health conditions can be seen.
According to a study, the middle-income group of women has reduced risk of developing mental

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distress and symptoms of depression during their pregnancy. In comparison to them, the high
socioeconomic status women are very protective towards their children and their own health and
thus, they are seemed to be developing more depressive symptoms during their pregnancy.
However, there is no clear outcome of developing perinatal depression symptoms in the high-
income group (Ogbo et al., 2019).
Perinatal health is mental health which is very important to diagnose early as it can affect
a child’s health and development along with the mother’s health. Mostly, the symptoms of this
condition can be seen during pregnancy and they can be diagnosed through screening programs
offered by the government of Australia. Perinatal health can affect any woman but indigenous
women are more likely to get affected with this condition as they are less educated, have poor
transport or infrastructure, deal with harmful traditional practices and discriminatory social
attitudes, and reduced access to healthcare.

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References
Cope.org.au. 2014. ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PERINATAL MENTAL
HEALTH MAPPING PROJECT. [online] Available at:
<https://cope.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/COPE_Mapping-Project_WEB.pdf>
[Accessed 18 March 2020].
Buist, A., 2014. Perinatal mental health Identifying problems and managing medications.
RACGP, 43(4), pp.182-185.
Ferguson-Hill, S., 2020. [online] Earlytraumagrief.anu.edu.au. Available at:
<https://earlytraumagrief.anu.edu.au/files/chapter16.pdf> [Accessed 17 March 2020].
Highet, N. and Taylor, J., 2017. Australia's New Perinatal Mental Health Guidelines: A sneak
peak into what's new and the implications for practice. Women and Birth, 30, p.12.
Nithianandan, N., Gibson-Helm, M., McBride, J., Binny, A., Gray, K., East, C. and Boyle, J.,
2016. Factors affecting implementation of perinatal mental health screening in women of refugee
background. Implementation Science, 11(1), p.150.
Ogbo, F., Kingsley Ezeh, O., Dhami, M., Naz, S., Khanlari, S., McKenzie, A., Agho, K., Page,
A., Ussher, J., Perz, J. and Eastwood, J., 2019. Perinatal Distress and Depression in Culturally
and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Australian Women: The Role of Psychosocial and Obstetric
Factors. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(16), p.2945.
Rowe, H., Wynter, K., Burns, J. and Fisher, J., 2016. A complex postnatal mental health
intervention: Australian translational formative evaluation. Health Promotion International, 32,
pp.610-623.