Emotional difficulties, coping strategies, and help-seeking patterns among Czech perinatal women.

OBJECTIVE: To understand both, women´s perception of emotional difficulties in perinatal period and their related coping strategies. Further, we mapped and analysed help-seeking patterns utilized by these women to overcome their emotional difficulties. This study serve as an important piece of information for women-centred innovations in perinatal mental health care in Czechia, and more broadly in the region of Central and Eastern Europe. DESIGN: A qualitative study with an exploratory and descriptive approach using thematic analysis. SETTING: Online survey consisting of open-ended questions mapping women´s perception of emotional difficulties in perinatal period and their related coping strategies and help-seeking patterns. PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred women self-reporting emotional difficulties in perinatal period, from whom 108 (54 %) stated that they had sought professional help with their emotional difficulties. FINDINGS: Two themes were identified in the analysis of women´s perception of emotional difficulties including Experience of symptoms of mental disorders, and Mother-child relationship. Three themes were identified in the analysis of women´s coping with these difficulties (Personal resources, External resources, and No coping strategy used). Four themes were identified in the analysis of help seeking patterns utilized by study participants (Mental health specialists, Physicians of the first line of contact, Midwifes, and Peer consultants). KEY CONCLUSIONS: Emotional difficulties of perinatal women stemmed in both, general symptoms of mental disorders and specific concerns connected to mother-child relationship. Therefore, the perinatal mental health services should cover both topics, preferably by a multidisciplinary team. Women search information about perinatal mental health, so thus, easy to reach valid resources are needed. Finally, Czech perinatal women experiencing emotional difficulties utilize various help-seeking patterns. Some of them naturalistically utilize integrated stepped care even when it is not systematically established.

Self-Reported Causes of Psychological Distress Among Czech Perinatal Women.

BACKGROUND: Various risk factors to perinatal mental health disorders have been described; however, there is a dearth of data on the perspectives of women themselves regarding what increases the risk of psychological distress. This qualitative study explores women's perceptions of factors that increase the risk of perinatal psychological distress. AIM: The aim of this study was to elucidate women's perceptions of factors that increase the risk of perinatal psychological distress. METHODS: A qualitative design with an exploratory and descriptive approach is used. Women (N = 188) aged 18 to 45 years who self-report experiencing perinatal psychological distress complete an online survey. RESULTS: Perceived causes of perinatal psychological distress include: adverse experiences with childbirth and/or breastfeeding, negative attitudes of people close to the participant, financial and social challenges, health challenges, staff behavior in a maternity hospital, a challenging baby, family circumstances, and the new role as mother. CONCLUSION: Women's perceived causes of perinatal psychological distress may allow for women-centered innovations in perinatal mental health care. The results highlight the need to train maternity staff regarding perinatal mental health and communication. These findings can serve as important guidelines on women-centered planning of innovations of perinatal mental health care. Interventions need to focus on the role of partners and others close to women so as to support the women during the perinatal period.