Pregnant African American Women 's Attitudes Towards Perinatal Depression Prevention

In the 2006 book Postpartum Mood and Anxiety Disorders: A Clinician’s Guide authored by Beck and Driscoll, states certain risk factors such as socioeconomic status, ethnicity, education level and self-esteem can also play a role in the development of this depression.

Twenty-four mother-infant dyads completed all aspects of the study. Of those 24, 18 were Caucasian, 22 were married, eight of them had an annual family income of $50,000 to $74,999, and seven had an annual family income of over $100,000. Also 16 of the participating mothers had a graduate degree. Not only is the sample size very small, but the demographics of the mothers is greatly disproportionate. With the majority of mothers being caucasian, educated, middle class, married women, the sample size does not accurately represent the majority of the population who lives in relative poverty and cannot afford to seek help. About half of the mothers had a history of depression and were taking or had just started taking antidepressant medication when they first enrolled. Considering the size of the sample, all the mothers should have been either prescription drug users, or not, but not both. Prescription drug treatment for any depression significantly changes perceptions of mood, skewing the results, and there is not enough women in the study to make a concise prognosis.

Depression and anxiety could have a major effect on the physical body. It is critical to find an effective way to decrease the amount of depression in African American communities in order for a quick recovery and remission. There are a few options for women with depression in terms of treatment. There are many different types of medication that could be used to to fight the depression or one could use therapy. Therapy heals certain problems that a patient may have that caused the depression. More funding to the study of African American women with depression may lead to more discoveries for the different types of

In addition to infant mortality, infant survivors of LBW and preterm delivery, often experience greater problems in childhood and adulthood. Some of these experiences include higher rates of respiratory illness, impaired growth, cognitive and emotional deficiencies, lower academic achievement and risk of hypertension, diabetes and mental health issues (Behrman and Butler, 2007, Conley and Bennett, 2000 and Raikkonen et al., 2007). The Center for Disease Control (CDC) report that African American pregnancies are at an elevated risk for poor birth outcomes. Figure 1. shows national birth outcomes for African American, Hispanic, and Caucasian pregnancies, as reported by the CDC in 2013:

One important health disparity is the lack of prenatal care amongst women in socially disadvantaged populations. These predominately include women of minorities, women who have a low income, and the location these women live in. This health disparity is important to address because research has shown that women who receive prenatal care are more likely to conceive babies of a healthy birth weight and have low infant mortality rates than those women who do not receive this prenatal care ("Putting Women 's Health Disparities on the Map," 2009). Therefore, health disparities amongst women in need of prenatal care have lead to preventable infant mortalities amongst women in vulnerable populations. Three reasons why this health disparity is important to address include the following: health disparities in prenatal care lead to lack of access to prenatal care to women in vulnerable populations, there are increased adverse health outcomes for both the infant and mother, and there are excess medical expenses that could otherwise have been prevented. Because “prematurity is the leading cause of newborn death in the United States” (“Healthy Mothers and Healthy babies,” 2013), finding and developing a solution will be extremely beneficial and needs to begin with addressing prenatal care.

This is especially true in women of childbearing age (Lee King, Duan, & Amaro, 2015). The dyad of mother and baby presents a special vulnerable population within the Appalachian region. Women, who experience physical, psychological or sexual abuse during childhood, are at an increased risk to have post-partum depression, especially if SUD co-exists (Ross & Dennis, 2009). This dyad of mother and child in an impoverished setting with limited resources to health care, despite access to insurance, results in a perpetual disparity that results in preventable mortality from a variety of disease processes (Lane et al.,

Segre, A. R. (n.d.). Perinatal Depression: A Review of U.S. Legislation and Law. Retrieved from www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3725295/

I do think that there is stigma and prejudice among African American culture than among white cultures toward mental health issues which makes it hard for practitioner to diagnose them with Depression. Even after diagnosing these African Americans women, it is difficult for them to accept their diagnosis and seek treatment. They also do not like to see therapist for their

In the Low Country area of South Carolina( Allendale, Bamberg, Hampton, and Orangeburg counties), African American women have been linked with low birth weight babies. Within the low country black babies are born at a low birth weight more frequently than babies of any other ethnic group. The Low Country Healthy Start program is designed to eliminate disparities in perinatal health and improve birth outcomes and quality of life in African American women. A process evaluation will be conducted in order to define the risk associated with chronic disease, recognize who is high risk, what services are provided by LCHS, who receive these services, and if the services provided are efficient.

There are many studies that have addressed pregnant women’s preferences and perception of help-seeking barriers for perinatal depression prevention interventions and they have showed that African American women are less likely to seek professional help than white pregnant women. Because there are no studies to date that have focused specifically on ethnic or racial minority women’s attitudes toward depression prevention during pregnancy, this study explores three main aspects of the attitude that pregnant African American with depression have. The authors

People of different ethnic backgrounds are treated differently due to many kinds of social and multicultural differences people and society. African-Americans within society are treated with prejudice and are stereotyped into negative connotations that can increase distress and impairments such as depression. Behavioral disorders as well as mental illnesses that African-Americans develop throughout their lifespan can show implications on how racism can be a cause of depression when African-Americans are faced with situations that can involve racist views or altercations. This article will provide an overview of how racism towards African-Americans can contribute towards mental health issues within African-American community as

The Low Country Healthy Start program was designed to eliminate disparities in perinatal health, improve birth outcomes, and quality of life in African American women and infants living in Allendale, Bamberg, Hampton, and Orangeburg counties. This process evaluation sought to determine whether the services provided by LCHS were effective in changing the birth outcomes associated with chronic disease in African American women. Data collected from the initial risk screening and assessment survey along with attendance data from services provided by LCHS was utilized. Case summaries and frequencies were ran on all data linked with chronic disease to determine the risk factors, recognize who was at risk, and what services were provided. Findings suggest that Asthma was the most common chronic disease amongst its participants with smoking tobacco, poor coping skills, negative feelings, and inadequate housing being the risk factors associated with asthma. The services provided by LCHS were found to be insufficient in reaching participants with chronic disease. The program in general proves to be useful and beneficial in addressing the major issues associated with low birthweight infants, however the data collected for this particular study is all self-reported which leaves gaps and unanswered questions due to inconsistency in the data received.

This research consisted of key informants and general informants. These general informants were leaders in the community, granny midwives and African American and European American health care professionals. These general informants came from the clinics and hospitals where key informants were from. The key informants from each region were women who were either pregnant or had a baby within in a year preceding the study. (Marjorie Morgan, 1996)

Risks are higher among ethnic minority women or women with a lower socioeconomic status (SES), and suffering from a major depressive disorder. Yet, less than half of these women will be identified or treated for PPD disorder (Yonkers, p. 1856). The woman who are vulnerable for this disorder can be identified by risk factors during the postpartum period. These factors may include a history of major depression, depressive symptoms during the pregnancy, obstetrical complications, unstable marriage (significant other), stressed life events, low income, educational attainment, and not breastfeeding (Yonkers, 2001), and these factors can be used to assess women outside of the postpartum period.

Prenatal care is widely accepted as an important element in improving pregnancy outcome. (Gorrie, McKinney, Murray, 1998). Prenatal care is defined as care of a pregnant woman during the time in the maternity cycle that begins with conception and ends with the onset of labor. A medical, surgical, gynecologic, obstretic, social and family history is taken (Mosby's Medical, Nursing, and Allied Health Dictionary, 1998). It is important for a pregnant woman as well as our society to know that everything that you do has an effect on your baby. Because so many women opt not to receive the benefits of prenatal care, our society sees the ramification, which include a variety of complications primarily