Immigrant women and women with learning disabilities have complex mental health needs and service use in the perinatal period

Setting the scene Perinatal mental disorders are important contributors to maternal morbidity and mortality globally,1–3 and are associated with adverse infant and child outcomes.4 There is clear evidence-based guidance on the detection and treatment of perinatal mental disorders in the general population,5 6 but little evidence on vulnerable subgroups who may have distinct clinical presentation and/or service needs. In the two selected studies, population-based regional Canadian data are used to investigate perinatal mental health among migrant women (focusing on their postnatal use of mental health services compared with non-migrant women),7 and among women with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD) (focusing on adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes among women with comorbid IDD and mental illness compared with women with IDD only).8 The WHO estimated that in 2015, 38 million migrant women were living...
Source: Evidence-Based Mental Health - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Expert commentary Source Type: research