Health communication practices of South Asian migrant mothers with postnatal mental health difficulties: a pilot study

Up to 15-25% of mothers encounter postnatal mental health difficulties. Formal support for postnatal mental health is under pressure and health visiting services are struggling owing to public funding cuts. Migrant mothers experiencing mental health illnesses face additional practical barriers and cultural factors which prevent them from finding the right kind of support, demonstrated by inequality studies and mental health research.

We will conduct fieldwork with mothers, health visitors and midwives to investigate the communicative practices, expectations and needs of migrant mothers from South Asia coping with postnatal mental health difficulties. We will develop new understandings of migrant mothers’ needs and the kind of support being sought and provided – or not – by healthcare services.

We will develop a strong new research team for future collaborative work and  communicate our findings to a targeted audience using a final report and social media policy that will contribute to the provision of culturally sensitive and competent care.