Black Maternal Depression and Barriers to Care

George Sheriff^1,

¹Department Name, A.T. Still University, Mesa, AZ, USA

Cite this paper:
George Sheriff. Black Maternal Depression and Barriers to Care. American Journal of Public Health Research. 2023; 11(5):152-156. doi: 10.12691/ajphr-11-5-1

Abstract

Ethnic and racial disparities in perinatal depression care are well documented, but Black women's care information is significantly limited. This study aimed to identify barriers to Black postpartum depression care. Quantitative descriptive research was used to investigate and document the barriers to postpartum depression care faced by low-income Black women in Central Texas. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and a self-made 5 point Likert Scale questionnaire were used to collect data from 12 participants. The result indicated that 41.7% of participants showed significant signs of postpartum depression. Just over 16.7% of postpartum depression participants strongly agreed that low-income prevents treatment. Additionally, the mean rank of 5.40 and a p-value of 0.35 further indicated that low income is the mean barrier to low-income Black maternal postpartum care in Central Texas. Prior literatures have detailed mental health care disparities across various racial and ethnic groups, but none have addressed the barriers of postpartum depression care. This study present evidence of barriers to postpartum depression care among low-income Black women residing in Central Texas. Because of the limited nature of current studies on Black maternal depression and care needs in Central Texas, this study provides clinicians, researchers, and educators with the evidence needed to guide future research on this demographic. A limitation in this study was that the EDPS score was used instead of a trained mental health professional to identify postpartum depression participants. Therefore, future researchers are recommended to recruit a larger number of participants with a known diagnosis of postpartum depression.

Keywords:
postpartum depression Black maternal postpartum care Central Texas low-income mothers and depression

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