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Health care professionals' experiences of screening immigrant mothers for postpartum depression-a qualitative systematic review

Skoog, Malin LU ; Hallström, Inger Kristensson LU and Vilhelmsson, Andreas LU orcid (2022) In PLoS ONE 17(7).
Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Postpartum depression is considered a major public health problem, which immigrant mothers are at particular risk of being affected by, but it can also have long-lasting traumatic effects on the child's health and development. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale is the world's most commonly employed screening instrument for postpartum depression, used in connection with a clinical interview to screen for symptoms of postpartum depression. The aim of this study was to synthesize health care professionals (HCPs) experiences of identifying signs of postpartum depression and performing screening on immigrant mothers, since previous research suggested that this task might be challenging.

METHODS: The databases... (More)

INTRODUCTION: Postpartum depression is considered a major public health problem, which immigrant mothers are at particular risk of being affected by, but it can also have long-lasting traumatic effects on the child's health and development. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale is the world's most commonly employed screening instrument for postpartum depression, used in connection with a clinical interview to screen for symptoms of postpartum depression. The aim of this study was to synthesize health care professionals (HCPs) experiences of identifying signs of postpartum depression and performing screening on immigrant mothers, since previous research suggested that this task might be challenging.

METHODS: The databases CINAHL, PubMed, PsycINFO, SocINDEX, Embase and Cochrane were searched for papers published January 2000-December 2020, reporting qualitative data on immigrants, postpartum depression and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. Eight papers representing eight studies from four countries were included and the Critical Appraisal Skills Program was used to assess their quality. The synthesis of studies was guided by Noblit & Hare's seven-step method based on meta-ethnography.

FINDINGS: The synthesis resulted in two final themes: "I do my best, but I doubt that it's enough" and "I can find no way forward". The themes convey the fear and frustration that health care professionals experienced; fear of missing mothers with signs of postpartum depression, related to feeling uncomfortable in the cross-cultural setting and frustration in handling difficulties associated with communication, translated versions of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and cultural implications of postpartum depression.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPLICATION: By supporting HCPs' self-efficacy in handling cultural implications of postpartum depression and by developing evidence-based clinical guidelines for the use of interpreters and translated versions of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale the screening of immigrant mothers may be facilitated.

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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
PLoS ONE
volume
17
issue
7
article number
e0271318
publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
external identifiers
  • scopus:85134165956
  • pmid:35834550
ISSN
1932-6203
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0271318
project
LUC3 - Lund University Child Centered Care
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
34831571-4341-445e-8015-c098c322a60c
date added to LUP
2022-07-16 06:45:37
date last changed
2024-04-16 06:05:30
@article{34831571-4341-445e-8015-c098c322a60c,
  abstract     = {{<p>INTRODUCTION: Postpartum depression is considered a major public health problem, which immigrant mothers are at particular risk of being affected by, but it can also have long-lasting traumatic effects on the child's health and development. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale is the world's most commonly employed screening instrument for postpartum depression, used in connection with a clinical interview to screen for symptoms of postpartum depression. The aim of this study was to synthesize health care professionals (HCPs) experiences of identifying signs of postpartum depression and performing screening on immigrant mothers, since previous research suggested that this task might be challenging.</p><p>METHODS: The databases CINAHL, PubMed, PsycINFO, SocINDEX, Embase and Cochrane were searched for papers published January 2000-December 2020, reporting qualitative data on immigrants, postpartum depression and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. Eight papers representing eight studies from four countries were included and the Critical Appraisal Skills Program was used to assess their quality. The synthesis of studies was guided by Noblit &amp; Hare's seven-step method based on meta-ethnography.</p><p>FINDINGS: The synthesis resulted in two final themes: "I do my best, but I doubt that it's enough" and "I can find no way forward". The themes convey the fear and frustration that health care professionals experienced; fear of missing mothers with signs of postpartum depression, related to feeling uncomfortable in the cross-cultural setting and frustration in handling difficulties associated with communication, translated versions of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and cultural implications of postpartum depression.</p><p>CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPLICATION: By supporting HCPs' self-efficacy in handling cultural implications of postpartum depression and by developing evidence-based clinical guidelines for the use of interpreters and translated versions of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale the screening of immigrant mothers may be facilitated.</p>}},
  author       = {{Skoog, Malin and Hallström, Inger Kristensson and Vilhelmsson, Andreas}},
  issn         = {{1932-6203}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{7}},
  publisher    = {{Public Library of Science (PLoS)}},
  series       = {{PLoS ONE}},
  title        = {{Health care professionals' experiences of screening immigrant mothers for postpartum depression-a qualitative systematic review}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0271318}},
  doi          = {{10.1371/journal.pone.0271318}},
  volume       = {{17}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}