• Project Profiles
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  • Approaches to Public Health Nursing
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  • Assessing Patient Complexity
  • Early Identification of Autism
  • Measuring Quality Care
  • Young Adults in Long-Term Care
  • Reducing Medication Errors
  • Making Exercise Sticky
  • Stroke Guidelines
  • Driving Change in Mental Health
  • Help for New Mothers
  • Mentoring Makes a Difference
  • Pay-for-Performance
  • Good Care is About People
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  • Health Technology Assessment
  • Looking at the Link between Pain and Aggression
  • Reviewing Determinants of Health
  • End of Life Care Decisions in Focus
  • Rural Health Service Delivery
  • Looking at Organizational Problems
  • Integrating Evaluation with Planning
  • Rural Health Needs
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• Participant Profiles
• Knowledge Infostructure
• Celebrating the Legacy

Help for New Mothers

They were stories Charlene Hann could understand. As a provisional psychologist working for Alberta Health Services, Mental Health Services - and herself a newcomer to Fort McMurray - Hann was hearing troubling tales from new mothers in the area. These women had been referred to Mental Health Services when they were identified by Family Health as having difficulties coping.

"Many of our new moms talk about how they have no family close by and they feel alone and isolated," says Hann. "Some of them are really struggling with postpartum depression - they are scared and overwhelmed. My co-workers and I were seeing an increased number of these cases."

The situation was the impetus for Hann's SEARCH VI local project. "I wanted to understand what was going on and, most importantly, see what could be done to prevent postpartum depression. Social support seemed to be a key issue. My husband and I moved to Fort McMurray from Newfoundland in 2006 and I'm an expectant mom myself. I guess you could say I have a special interest in this research."

To determine the relationship between social support and the onset of postpartum depression, Hann undertook a systematic review of studies. Although many factors affect postpartum depression, she found that, in the general population, social support single-handedly accounted for approximately 14 per cent of the variability in postpartum depression symptoms.

Hann is now developing a postpartum depression prevention program. "Women put so much time and energy into planning for the baby that they tend not to focus on what they will do after the baby arrives. Education is the biggest thing we can do to help mothers. While prenatal courses cover pregnancy and delivery, they tend not to address postpartum issues such as postpartum depression.

We need to make sure mothers know about postpartum depression and how important it is to develop a social network before the baby is born so they know who they can count on when they need help or just a break. Husbands or significant others also need to understand that the time after the baby is born is the most critical time, when mothers need the most support."