engleski

2nd Symposium on Parental Mental Health During Pregnancy and After Childbirth

Perinatal mental health has been studied for a few decades, with all findings emphasising the diversity and wide prevalence of mental health issues that should not be disregarded. Still, screening for such difficulties is not standard in many countries, and prevention is implemented unsystematically. Even more, recent reviews show that peripartum mental health has been jeopardised during the COVID-19 pandemic. The symposium will focus on different aspects of mental health and experiences during pregnancy and after childbirth, mainly on stress and postpartum depression. The first two presentations examine postpartum-specific stress, with a new measure of the stress in the first year after childbirth – the Maternal Postpartum Stress Scale (Nakić Radoš, Brekalo & Matijaš) and some predictors of postpartum-specific stress (Brekalo, Žutić & Nakić Radoš). The following presentations are focused on postpartum depression. Two longitudinal studies are examining the prediction of postpartum depression symptoms, with gestational weight gain as a predictor along with psychosocial predictors (Žutić, Brekalo & Nakić Radoš) and the association of postpartum depression with mother-infant bonding during the COVID-19 pandemic (Orkaby & Handelzalts). The final presentation is on the e-mental health tool, Be a Mom, an intervention grounded on CBT principles, including acceptance and compassion-based approaches, designed to prevent postpartum depression (Fonseca & Canavarro). The symposium will contribute to the theoretical knowledge on peripartum mental health, ease the assessment of a wide range of postpartum mental health difficulties, and promote e-mental health tools as new methods to reach out to the perinatal population. Also, the association between maternal mental health and mother-infant bonding highlights the need to raise awareness of the importance of paying attention to maternal needs. In the end, all these efforts should contribute to the protection and promotion of parental well-being and infant development in a protected and healthy environment.

mental health, peripartum ; pregnancy ; mothers ; prevention

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