Moving on from ‘Listening Visits’: a mixed methods, multi-phase study exploring the support that health visitors provide to mothers with mental health problems
type: CreativeWork
description: ‘Childbearing is attended by a plethora of psychiatric disorders, which make pregnancy and its aftermath the most complex event in human experience.’ (BROCKINGTON ET AL, 2017 P.114) It is estimated that at least 50% of the 25% of mothers who experience mental health problems (MHPs) during pregnancy or the year after they have a baby (the perinatal period) are not getting the help they need that will lead to recovery. Children of mothers with untreated MHPs are more likely to experience physical and mental health problems throughout their lives. Preventing and treating maternal mental ill-health therefore has the potential to improve the health of two generations. Health visitors (HVs) have routine contact with all mothers during the perinatal period and, since 1989, have been providing an intervention described as ‘listening visits’ (LVs) to mothers with postnatal depression. When the NICE guideline for antenatal and postnatal mental health was updated in 2014, LVs were not included as one of the recommended evidence-based interventions for mothers with perinatal depression. This created confusion about what HVs should be doing and provided the catalyst for this PhD study. The initial aim of the study was to understand why LVs had been omitted from the guideline and what this meant for HVs. An online survey to explore current practice was devised and completed by 1599 health visitors March – May 2016. This exposed a range of factors that influenced the capacity of HVs to provide the support that they thought was needed. The survey revealed variations in the interpretation and delivery of LVs and a disconnect between the definition of LVs used in the NICE guideline and the reality of HV practice. A clear message from the survey was that HVs wanted to feel confident and competent in their ability to deliver an evidence-informed perinatal mental health intervention that was clearly defined in terms of its structure, content and purpose. As well as better training, the …
abstract: ‘Childbearing is attended by a plethora of psychiatric disorders, which make pregnancy and its aftermath the most complex event in human experience.’ (BROCKINGTON ET AL, 2017 P.114) It is estimated that at least 50% of the 25% of mothers who experience mental health problems (MHPs) during pregnancy or the year after they have a baby (the perinatal period) are not getting the help they need that will lead to recovery. Children of mothers with untreated MHPs are more likely to experience physical and mental health problems throughout their lives. Preventing and treating maternal mental ill-health therefore has the potential to improve the health of two generations. Health visitors (HVs) have routine contact with all mothers during the perinatal period and, since 1989, have been providing an intervention described as ‘listening visits’ (LVs) to mothers with postnatal depression. When the NICE guideline for antenatal and postnatal mental health was updated in 2014, LVs were not included as one of the recommended evidence-based interventions for mothers with perinatal depression. This created confusion about what HVs should be doing and provided the catalyst for this PhD study. The initial aim of the study was to understand why LVs had been omitted from the guideline and what this meant for HVs. An online survey to explore current practice was devised and completed by 1599 health visitors March – May 2016. This exposed a range of factors that influenced the capacity of HVs to provide the support that they thought was needed. The survey revealed variations in the interpretation and delivery of LVs and a disconnect between the definition of LVs used in the NICE guideline and the reality of HV practice. A clear message from the survey was that HVs wanted to feel confident and competent in their ability to deliver an evidence-informed perinatal mental health intervention that was clearly defined in terms of its structure, content and purpose. As well as better training, the …
author: Lowenhoff, Catherine
language: en
date published: 2020
date modified: 2026-07-24T03:43:18Z
provider: Oxford Brookes University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Oxford Brookes University

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.24384/j81e-hr24