PATH, perinatal mental health

  • We help parents, their families and healthcare professionals in the prevention, timely diagnosis and successful management of mild to moderate psychological symptoms associated with birth.
  • In brief:
    • We conduct a multimedia campaign to raise awareness about perinatal mental well-being among (future) parents and reduce stigma around this.
    • We investigate the knowledge and needs for (peer) support among migrants during the perinatal period in Flanders. 
  • Output:

Contact

astrid.claerbout@kdg.be

  • Funding channel: Interreg 2 Seas
  • Care in Connection research centre
  • Duration: 1 September 2019 to 30 September 2022
  • Project partners:
    • Plymouth And District Mind
    • Southampton City Council
    • Odisee University College
    • Kent County Council
    • Institute of Health Visiting
    • Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust
    • Hospital Centre of Douai
    • Antwerp University of Applied Sciences
    • Bournemouth University
    • Attachment in Development
    • Maasstad Hospital

Issue

Becoming a parent is an exciting and beautiful time. At the same time, it is also a time that brings a lot of challenges that can affect parents' mental well-being. Emotional problems and mental disorders such as anxiety disorders and perinatal depression are not always recognised as such. In Europe, 10-20% of (future) mothers suffer from perinatal mental illness. Perinatal mental illness, or PMI for short, includes all mental disorders from pregnancy to one year after birth. About 90% of women do not get the support they need. PATH aims to help parents, their families and healthcare professionals in the prevention, timely diagnosis and successful management of mild to moderate mental illness associated with birth. PATH aims to do this by promoting prepared parenthood, leading to happier and healthier families.

Objectives

KdG is collaborating on the following projects to achieve PATH's objectives:

  • A multimedia campaign to raise awareness of PMI among (future) parents and reduce the stigma around it. Both parents can suffer from this, so raising awareness will also help partners, by recognising and treating symptoms in them early.
  • A qualitative study using interviews to get a better picture of the knowledge and needs for (peer) support among migrants during the perinatal period in Flanders. In this way, community support groups (peer support) can also be used with this population. In this way, self-defence can be increased through the wider community and social networks. 

Researchers

Interreg_PATH

Want to know more, collaborate or have a press enquiry?

You can collaborate with our research centre Care in Connection on topics such as:

  • Knowledge and expertise in various fields, from birth to care for the elderly.
  • Innovative methods to improve healthcare practices for patients and providers.

Contact us without obligation