Mind the Mum: Placing Parental Mental Health and Care to the Forefront

ongoing

Pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period are periods of significant change by women, and their Perinatal Mental Health (PMH) may be influenced by complex socioecological factors, related to their individual characteristics and circumstances, family and support environment and culture, systemic and cultural factors in the healthcare system and the service delivery process. Working with a transcultural and multidisciplinary team of experts and grassroot activists, and learning from past experience of other partners in their own countries, we seek to address two major needs/gaps in Cyprus and Slovenia: (1) the need to understand (through systematic monitoring and recording) how the perinatal period is experienced by women, and how their PMH experience may relate to specific risk and protective factors (2) the need to produce and contextualize tools and advocate for systemic changes for equipping new mothers with skills and choices to safeguard their PMH. Objectives: (1) to produce knowledge ( that will inform on country-specific needs for prevention and intervention tools (through Nationwide Research in CY and SL - WP2) (2) to strenghten alliances between health professionals, decision makers, and service users-grassroots parents/activists, on improving PMH by working in tandem to ynthesize and contextualize prevention and early management tools (WP3 - design and piloting of intervention) (3) to pilot and evaluate the resulting intervention program in its potential to equip new mothers to safeguard their mental health (WP3) (4) to advocate for policies, sensitization, and the need of professionals to improve their skills in order reduce the burden of maternal mental health conditions (Post Partum Depression/PPD, Anxiety, Trauma and related conditions) both at individual and population level, targeting or addressing the related risk factors and their determinants. (WP4) (5) To raise awareness, destigmatize, and stimulate discourse on PMH (WP5)