Health service use and perinatal mental health (V1)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Records-based health service use among women with perinatal anxiety and associated disorders (V1)
IRAS ID
324500
Contact name
Susan Ayers
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
City, University of London
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
researchregistry7767, Research Registry
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 31 days
Research summary
The majority of women with mental health problems in pregnancy and after birth do not access healthcare. This may be particularly so for women with less recognised problems such as anxiety and associated disorders. Understanding more about women’s health service use may lead to improvements in health services to support women. This NIHR-funded study aims to describe: women’s health service use over the ten years prior to giving birth and the first year postnatally; the pattern of perinatal mental health disorders over that period, and agreement of women’s self-report data with their medical records.
The women invited to take part have already participated in the MAP study in England and Scotland, which followed over 2000 women through pregnancy and birth. Almost 800 are now taking part in the MAP Alliance study which follows them for two years postnatally and involves five related studies. Women are eligible to take part in this particular MAP Alliance study (WP2) if they met the criteria for a current diagnosis of anxiety or associated disorders according to a diagnostic interview they completed during the MAP study.In this work package we will examine the General Practitioner (GP) medical records of around 40 or so women who are eligible to take part. After gaining the women’s consent, the research team will examine their GP medical records for the ten years prior to giving birth and for the first year postnatally to understand the frequency and type of service use by type of anxiety and associated disorders, and the timeliness of support provided to women. GP records will be compared to data that the women have already provided via self-report questionnaires during pregnancy and for 1 year postnatally to assess agreement between self-report and medical records. The projects runs from June 2023 to January 2024.
REC name
West of Scotland REC 3
REC reference
23/WS/0096
Date of REC Opinion
30 Jun 2023
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion