TY - JOUR
T1 - Resilience and prenatal mental health in Pakistan
T2 - a qualitative inquiry
AU - Bhamani, Shireen Shehzad
AU - Arthur, David
AU - Van Parys, An Sofie
AU - Letourneau, Nicole
AU - Wagnild, Gail
AU - Premji, Shahirose Sadrudin
AU - Asad, Nargis
AU - Degomme, Olivier
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by university research council (grant # 182015 SONAM 70345), partial funding was also received from Canadian Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Scholarship (QES) program through University of Calgary. The current study is part of the bigger project titled “Resilience, Depression and Anxiety Among Pregnant Women In Pakistan: Development And Testing of Intervention”.
Funding Information:
We thank all of our participants who gave their valuable time and information. Our research team; Ms. Zara Nizar Dhamani for assisting PI in research process and note keeping during the study, Ms. Mehwish Dawood Muhammad for providing assistance in editing and formatting the references. We are also grateful to Dr. Shershah Syed and his administrators to recruit participants from his site (KGH). Ms. Kiran Shaikh and Ms. Sharifa Lakhani’s for giving access to approach their participants of CIHR study. Their team members (Naureen Akber Ali, Fouzia Karim, Rabia Khuwaja, Fazila Faisal, (also for assisting us in connecting with site administrators and for helping us. In addition, our sincere gratitude to our Maternal-infant Global Health Team (MiGHT)—Collaborators in Research members Lead Shahirose Sadrudin Premji; Members: Saher Aijaz, Naureen Akber Ali, Shahnaz Shahid Ali, Neelofur Babar, Aliyah Dosani, Christine Dunkel Schetter, Fazila Faisal, Ntonghanwah Forcheh, Farooq Ghani, Fouzia Hashmani, Nasreen Ishtiaq, Arshia Javed, Nigar Jabeen, Rabia Khoja, Sharifa Lalani, Nicole Letourneau, Heeramani Lohana, Mohamoud Merali, Ayesha Mian, Qamarunissa Muhabat, Joseph Wangira Musana, Suneeta Namdave, Christopher T. Naugler, Sidrah Nausheen, Christine Okoko, Geoffrey Omuse, Almina Pardhan, Erum Saleem, Pauline Samia, Kiran Shaikh, Nazia Shamim, Sana Asif Siddiqui, Salima Sulaiman, Afia Tariq, Sikolia Wanyonyi, Ilona S Yim.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).
PY - 2022/12
Y1 - 2022/12
N2 - Background: Women in Pakistan suffer from a high rate of depression. The stress of low-income, illiteracy, exposure to violence and living in a patriarchal society are predisposing vulnerabilities for depression, particularly during and following pregnancy. The resilience of an individual plays a significant role in promoting prenatal mental health, but this has yet to be thoroughly researched. In this article, our objective is to identify the core characteristics of resilience among pregnant women, which will then help us in developing an intervention. Methods: The exploratory-descriptive study was conducted over 6 months in five different antenatal hospitals in Sindh, Pakistan. A total of 17 semi-structured interviews were conducted with pregnant women, purposefully selected with heterogeneous characteristics to explore diverse perspectives, while symptoms of depression were quantified by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale before the interview. Verbatim transcriptions were coded openly and merged into categories and themes. Result: A total of six themes emerged from in-depth thematic analysis: 1) purpose of life, 2) dealing with emotions, 3) believing in yourself, 4) optimistic approach, 5) strengthening support and relationship and 6) spirituality and humanity. Women agreed that these characteristics could help them improve their mental health. Conclusion: In conclusion, these themes were the core components of pregnant women’s resilience which ultimately could help to promote prenatal mental health. These pave a pathway towards developing culturally and contextually resilience interventions aimed at enhancing mental health of pregnant women which then may improve neonatal and family mental wellbeing.
AB - Background: Women in Pakistan suffer from a high rate of depression. The stress of low-income, illiteracy, exposure to violence and living in a patriarchal society are predisposing vulnerabilities for depression, particularly during and following pregnancy. The resilience of an individual plays a significant role in promoting prenatal mental health, but this has yet to be thoroughly researched. In this article, our objective is to identify the core characteristics of resilience among pregnant women, which will then help us in developing an intervention. Methods: The exploratory-descriptive study was conducted over 6 months in five different antenatal hospitals in Sindh, Pakistan. A total of 17 semi-structured interviews were conducted with pregnant women, purposefully selected with heterogeneous characteristics to explore diverse perspectives, while symptoms of depression were quantified by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale before the interview. Verbatim transcriptions were coded openly and merged into categories and themes. Result: A total of six themes emerged from in-depth thematic analysis: 1) purpose of life, 2) dealing with emotions, 3) believing in yourself, 4) optimistic approach, 5) strengthening support and relationship and 6) spirituality and humanity. Women agreed that these characteristics could help them improve their mental health. Conclusion: In conclusion, these themes were the core components of pregnant women’s resilience which ultimately could help to promote prenatal mental health. These pave a pathway towards developing culturally and contextually resilience interventions aimed at enhancing mental health of pregnant women which then may improve neonatal and family mental wellbeing.
KW - Depression
KW - Perinatal mental illness
KW - Pregnant women
KW - Resilience
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85141946151&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s12884-022-05176-y
DO - 10.1186/s12884-022-05176-y
M3 - Article
C2 - 36376896
AN - SCOPUS:85141946151
SN - 1471-2393
VL - 22
JO - BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
JF - BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
IS - 1
M1 - 839
ER -
