Ethnicity and Factors Influencing Help-Seeking in UK Perinatal Women
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The influence of service awareness, stigma, perceived social support and Western mental health literacy on attitudes to psychological help-seeking in perinatal Asian, Black African and White British women in the UK: a cross-sectional study.
IRAS ID
336683
Contact name
Tchilissila Alicerces Simões
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Leicester
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 19 days
Research summary
Women go through numerous changes during pregnancy and in the first year of motherhood, known as the perinatal period, and many experience mental health difficulties during this time. Despite efforts to expand the provision of UK perinatal mental health services, access rates remain lower than expected, with data showing that significantly fewer Asian and Black African women receive support from community-based services compared to White British women.
Small-scale studies have consistently suggested that perinatal women from Asian and Black African backgrounds may be less likely to access services for the following reasons; 1) limited awareness of perinatal mental health services (service awareness), 2) fear of judgement from others in their community due to widespread stigmatised beliefs about mental health (stigma), 3) limited opportunities to talk about emotional difficulties with friends/family (social support), and 4) understanding and communicating distress in ways that do not align with the dominant Western view of mental health (Western mental health literacy). This research aims to investigate how much each of these factors influences help-seeking attitudes for Asian and Black African perinatal women in comparison to White British perinatal women. It is hoped that the findings of this research will inform changes that could be made to service delivery to ensure that services are visible, accessible and acceptable to all who might need them.
At least 85 Asian, 85 Black African and 85 White British women who are currently pregnant or have given birth within the last 12 months will be identified from NHS maternity services and health visiting services across Leicestershire, community organisations, LinkedIn and Mumsnet. Participants will complete an online survey, which will ask them questions about their awareness of services, stigmatised beliefs about mental health, social support, Western mental health literacy and help-seeking attitudes, and will take approximately 15-30 minutes to complete.
REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/EM/0226
Date of REC Opinion
11 Dec 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion