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6th Symposium on Reproductive Mental Health

This year we celebrate ten years since the first Symposium on Reproductive Mental Health at the Psychology Days in Zadar back in 2012. The main intention of this regular symposium is to gather researchers in the field that is relatively new and underdeveloped in Croatia. Reproductive mental health covers various topics from clinical, health and developmental psychology applied at different stages of reproductive age, with an intention to cover issues and developmental phases from menarche to menopause. This year we start the symposium with the traumatic experience of miscarriage, where Maksan and Vidaković will introduce us to a wide range of psychological distress experienced by women who lost their pregnancies, together with risk and protective factors for women’s well-being and mental health. Then, we continue with the presentation of Kuljanac et al., which looks into mechanisms underlying fear of childbirth, comparing non-pregnant and pregnant women. The following two presentations deal with psychological distress during pregnancy and its outcomes. First, Matošević and Keresteš will present findings on maternal mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, Žutić et al. will present data from a longitudinal study on whether social support from different resources has a mediation or moderation role in the relationship between pregnancy stress and postpartum depression symptoms. Continuing with the social support, the final presentation by Bilić and Vidaković also highlights the importance of social support from the partner for the mental health and well-being of mothers with preterm delivery. Findings from these studies will move forward the current knowledge on maternal mental health problems, risk and protective factors, and underlying mechanisms. Also, it will provide a valuable basis for planning prevention programs with the main aim of protecting women’s mental health at different stages of reproductive age. Finally, we hope the symposium will help raise awareness of the common maternal mental health problems and help in prevention and treatment provision so that Croatian women feel supported and empowered.

reproductive mental health ; maternal mental health ; women ; perinatal ; Croatia

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