By Ariel Worthy
Postpartum depression is often managed with formal mental health treatments and antidepressant therapies, but for some women of color, these treatments do not help.
According to a recent University of Buffalo study, for new, low-income mothers of color, these interventions often provide little relief from the mood disorder that sometimes follows childbirth.
“These mothers need help with concrete things such as transportation, greater flexibility with their service providers and a more understanding work environment,” said lead author Robert Keefe, an associate professor in the University of Buffalo’s School of Social Work.
The study, published in the journal Social Work in Mental Health, is among the first to take into account perspectives from African-American and Latina mothers about their experiences with postpartum depression and the types of services used to manage their depression.
“Researchers have never talked to mothers of color who walked through the depression and come out the other end, to ask how they did; what would have helped? What recommendations do you have to give us?” Keefe said. “We found that a lot of things helpful to white women were not helpful to mothers of color.”
Postpartum depression affects between 13 to 19 percent of all new mothers, but rates are much higher for new mothers of color, topping 38 percent. However, few studies have been done on this group.
Although the research for postpartum depression has grown since the late 1990s,very few studies have been geared towards new mothers of color. Researchers say this is because mostly white women had access to services, so most of the research samples were drawn from this non-representative sample of the general population.
In fact, according to Keefe, estimates show that up to 60 percent of women of color do not receive services. That means the research is missing a large segment of the population.
“The treatment and services derived from research tended to be psychotherapeutic, which helped mothers with intact families and who had ongoing relationships with doctors,” Keefe said. “But doing that kind of focused individual therapy wasn’t reaching mothers from lower income groups who might not have an ongoing relationship with a primary care physician or who may not be married or coupled.”
As a result, many of the treatments and services designed to help mothers were having the opposite effect.
“Without sick leave benefits, keeping a health-care appointment meant missing work, but going to work meant missing health-care appointments and many of these providers close cases after as few as two missed appointments,” Keefe said. “What’s needed here are fundamental services, like a ride to the doctor; an employer with enough compassion that if paid time-off is not an option, at least there’s support for having taken time off.”
So what is helpful? According to Keefe, the importance of church emerged as one of the most consistent responses from new mothers. “Not so much religion, as being part of a spiritual community,” he said. “Many of the churches were able to provide what these new mothers needed: They were helping them with access to services, providing rides and offering child care.”
This showed researchers the logical next step: Begin working with these churches and church leaders to reach out to pregnant women and postpartum mothers in the community.
“So many of the research and intervention studies are based on white mothers,” Keefe said. “We want to take these findings and educate social workers and agencies in light of the results.”
University at Buffalo contributed to this report.
