Wednesday 24th June 2015

Searching for Equity in Health Visiting Perinatal Mental Health Policy, Services and Practice Using Case Study Research.

Palo Almond Senior Lecturer

Abstract

Research studies have shown that there are efficient and effective methods to assess and screen women for postnatal depression and there are also a range of effective ways to treat women using talk based and/or pharmacological interventions.  However the literature has shown that whilst some women are screened or assessed by health visitors, GPs or midwives there are many who are not. A research study was designed to try and understand why inequity in service provision existed. The aim of this presentation is to describe the way CSR was used a strategic framework to plan and implement the study rather than the findings.

 Method

Single case with embedded cases.

Sample and Data Collection

• Observations of 21 home visits involving screening, assessment or treatment of women with postnatal depression.
• interviews with 20 Health visitors,
• Interviews with 6 managers and team leaders
• Interviews with 9 Bangladeshi women (some were had British citizenship)
• Interviews with 12 British women (all white)
• Policy, Business plans and other documents

Data Analysis

Thematic analysis using Framework Analysis methods of interview data and documents. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2648.2011.05669.x/pdf

Biography

Dr Palo Almond recently joined the University of Brighton having previously held posts at the King’s College London, University of Southampton and Anglia Ruskin University where she led primary care and public health departments and programmes or conducted PH related research. Her role here is to draw on her public health research and scholarship to support the Specialist Community Public Health Nursing courses, contribute to public health teaching and lead on the development of a new BSc (Hons) in Public Health which is to be delivered from the new Hastings campus. Dr Almond’s research, scholarship and pedagogy has largely centred on public health, health promotion, maternal mental health, child health, and more recently suicide prevention in adolescents and young people. Palo’s preferred methodologies are qualitative however she has led on a RCT incorporating surveys and qualitative elements and written a book on Interpreting Statistics a Guide for Health Professionals and Students (Walker J and Almond P 2010).