Commissioned by NHS to investigate Black, Mixed & White mother's experiences.

The Motherhood Group was commissioned by NHS England and NHS Improvement to investigate Black, Mixed, and White Other mothers’ experiences of accessing perinatal mental health services and the barriers they have encountered. Drawing on qualitative data collected during four workshops and written narrative accounts, this report outlines the barriers faced by women from Black, Mixed, Asian and White Other backgrounds in accessing perinatal health services and presents recommendations for their improvement. Our report underscored the importance of further and sustained research to better understand how perinatal mental health services can be improved through cultural awareness and understanding for all new parents.

Three themes were identified and explored:

Our study employed qualitative methods to assess the following five key topic areas exploring access to and experience of perinatal mental health services:

In total, 191 mothers registered for our workshops. This was purposefully oversubscribed as there is a tendency to be unable to attend on the day, particularly when engaging mothers with wider care responsibilities. For the in-person workshop, mothers were discouraged from bringing children to support ease of conversation. Children were able to be with mothers in the online sessions. Subsequently, 56 participants attended across four workshops. This provided
the opportunity for a more in depth discussion addressing each question and topic area. 

Approximately 53% identified as Black African, 36% as Black Caribbean and 11% as Mixed (a combination of White, South Asian, and Black identification). The percentages are drawn from correlating the data of those who signed up and those who were recorded by name in attendance at the workshops as well as drawing from the discussion to identify ethnic or racial identification.

There was a strong emphasis for the need to further research the mental well-being and expression of mental illnesses in Black women as their own category, rather than conflating all minority ethnic groups together leading to inaccurate, generalising or stereotyped assumptions.

This report calls for more tailored research which considers the barriers faced in accessing perinatal mental health services for different women in their own right, including but not limited to South Asian mothers, Asian mothers, neuro-diverse mothers and mothers from White Other groups.

Further work is needed to engage with women who use specific services to support perinatal mental health to obtain a richer understanding of the impact and reach of these services.

The Motherhood Group was commissioned by NHS England and NHS Improvement to investigate Black, Mixed, and White Other mothers’ experiences of accessing perinatal mental health services and the barriers they have encountered. Drawing on qualitative data collected during four workshops and written narrative accounts, this report outlines the barriers faced by women from Black, Mixed, Asian and White Other backgrounds in accessing perinatal health services and presents recommendations for their improvement. Our report underscored the importance of further and sustained research to better understand how perinatal mental health services can be improved through cultural awareness and understanding for all new parents.

Three themes were identified and explored:

Our study employed qualitative methods to assess the following five key topic areas exploring access to and experience of perinatal mental health services:

In total, 191 mothers registered for our workshops. This was purposefully oversubscribed as there is a tendency to be unable to attend on the day, particularly when engaging mothers with wider care responsibilities. For the in-person workshop, mothers were discouraged from bringing children to support ease of conversation. Children were able to be with mothers in the online sessions. Subsequently, 56 participants attended across four workshops. This provided
the opportunity for a more in depth discussion addressing each question and topic area. 

Approximately 53% identified as Black African, 36% as Black Caribbean and 11% as Mixed (a combination of White, South Asian, and Black identification). The percentages are drawn from correlating the data of those who signed up and those who were recorded by name in attendance at the workshops as well as drawing from the discussion to identify ethnic or racial identification.

There was a strong emphasis for the need to further research the mental well-being and expression of mental illnesses in Black women as their own category, rather than conflating all minority ethnic groups together leading to inaccurate, generalising or stereotyped assumptions.

This report calls for more tailored research which considers the barriers faced in accessing perinatal mental health services for different women in their own right, including but not limited to South Asian mothers, Asian mothers, neuro-diverse mothers and mothers from White Other groups.

Further work is needed to engage with women who use specific services to support perinatal mental health to obtain a richer understanding of the impact and reach of these services.

We have a wide range of support, available to Black Mum's