Research themes and projects at the Centre for Womens Health, Gender and Society
Project title
Improving maternal mental health in Vietnam
Major research theme
Other themes
Investigators
- A/Prof Jane Fisher, CWHGS, School of Population Health, The University of Melbourne
- Prof Doreen Rosenthal, CWHGS, School of Population Health, The University of Melbourne
- Prof Margot Prior, School of Behavioural Science, The University of Melbourne
- Prof Garry Warne, Director Royal Children’s Hospital International, Melbourne
- Dr Tran Tuan, Research Training Centre for Community Development, Hanoi
Funding
- Myer Foundation, 2005-2006, $34,000
Summary
This project is the first stage of a program of research, training and community-based interventions to improve the mental health of mothers and very young children in Vietnam. There is an almost complete lack of evidence available about prevalence, risk factors, consequences and appropriate and acceptable methods of assessment of poor mental health during reproductive life in Vietnam. While the impact of depression on new mothers is itself of great concern, there is a serious flow-on effect to the infants and children of these mothers. Improved recognition of mental health problems and the development of appropriate services will only occur if convincing local evidence is developed. In order to build this evidence, appropriate psychometric instruments need to be validated and their acceptability evaluated locally. The first aim of this project is to validate established psychometric instruments for the assessment of perinatal mood disturbance in men and women in Vietnam. The second aim is to establish prevalence and identify risk factors for common mental health problems in women and men during reproductive life. In order to obtain representative samples, participants will be recruited from both rural and urban areas.