Abstract
BackgroundMental disorders in the perinatal period (PMD) can severely harm women and their children if not detected early and treated appropriately. Even though mental health care is covered by health insurance and is used widely by women in the perinatal period in Switzerland, it is not known if the care provided is meeting the needs of the patients and is efficient in the view of health care professionals. The aim of this study is to identify strengths, gaps and requirements for adequate mental health care in the perinatal period from the perspectives of patients and care providers for a wide range of relevant mental disorders.MethodsIn the qualitative study we conduct (1) semi-structured single interviews with former PMD patients to obtain narratives about their experiences and needs for health care for their condition. Women are included who have been treated for PMD but are mentally stable at the time of the interview (n = 24). We will stratify the sample by 4 clusters of relevant ICD-10 F-diagnoses, covering the most frequent and the most severe mental disorders. We will further stratify the sample based on whether the women already had experience with psychiatric or psychological health care or not before their last episode of PMD. We will also conduct (2) three interprofessional focus groups with health and social care professionals involved in perinatal care, and a health insurance representative. The focus groups will consist of 5–8 professionals. Data collection and thematic analysis will consider Levesque’s et al. (2013) conceptual model on access to health care.DiscussionThe study will provide fundamental data on the experiences and perspectives about perinatal mental health care from user and provider perspectives. The study will generate the evidence base needed to develop models of integrated, coordinated, patient- and family-centred care that is accessed by women with various types of PMD.Trial registrationThe study was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov in November 2019 under the identifier NCT04185896.
Highlights
Mental disorders in the perinatal period (PMD) can severely harm women and their children if not detected early and treated appropriately
We interview women with different mental disorders to cover a broad range of needs toward health care
Prevalence and consequences of perinatal mental disorders Perinatal mental disorders (PMD) are mental and behavioural disorders that occur during pregnancy or in the first year postpartum
Summary
Mental disorders in the perinatal period (PMD) can severely harm women and their children if not detected early and treated appropriately. The aim of this study is to identify strengths, gaps and requirements for adequate mental health care in the perinatal period from the perspectives of patients and care providers for a wide range of relevant mental disorders. It is crucial to identify and treat these women early and appropriately to avoid adverse consequences like birth complications, persistent mental illness or child development problems. The potential of PMD to severely harm women and their children and high follow-up costs call for specific interventions to facilitate service utilization and improve mental health care for this vulnerable group
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