The Number of Women Suffering from Prenatal Depression - Essay Example

? Postnatal depression al affiliation Postnatal depression Introduction Postnatal depression is one of the conditions thathave cost a lot of joy of many families in the globe today. According to the research conducted by Gilchrist, et al (2001), postnatal depression is a condition that occurs among women who have undergone nasty experiences during their delivery and most adversely, if the baby they have had is a premature one. It is of great importance that the health practitioners make it a lot easier for the mothers to accept their conditions, since a lot of mothers going through denial of their condition. On the other hand, Bennett, Honey & Morgan (2002) indicate that the number of women suffering from acute postnatal depression increases over the years, and that it is devastating that only a few of these women are able to deal with the condition. In this case, therefore, the aspect of a lot of care and treatment on the patients should be applied in the case of the mothers suffering from the condition. Studies indicate that this kind of condition lasts about a month after the delivery and the entire condition depends on the persons around the mother, and the kind of care being subjected to them. In the extreme cases, a lot of women have been seen to survive with the condition up to after six months of delivery. Brugha, et al. (2000) indicate that the number of women suffering from prenatal depression stands at around 10% -15%. Medically speaking, these women have been undergoing fluctuations in their hormones as well as many responsibilities they have had to go through so as to deal with the condition, and other motherly responsibilities. Feelings of anxiety and depression have also taken toll among the mothers, with a great percentage of them not being able to deal with the pressures and the new kind of medications they have to deal with. Other scholars have equated the condition to depression that is more often than not adjunct with low moods. At most times the mothers are completely unable to deal with their conditions; thus affecting their babies a great mile. In other occasions, the constant wails by the children result to the mothers’ inability to develop a sense of attachment with their babies. Other mothers have been extremely irritable, they lack appetite; always blame themselves while others can hardly breastfeed their babies for a long time. Severe forms of postnatal depression have seen many women unable to sleep, whilst others cannot maintain good social relations with their neighbors and the society at large. It is clear that a lot of care and support needs to be given to postnatal depressed women for the reason that the conditions of these women are getting worse, others losing memory, and the number of low self esteemed women increasing. Worse still, a lot of these women go through difficult times, since they have suicidal feelings, and a great percentage of them do not live in any form of reality (Horwitz, Friedman & Resnick, 2005). In this case, the sufferers and their families need a lot of care and support so as to survive with the condition. Aspects of care Postnatal condition has been referred to as a complex condition that requires a lot of care and dealings with extremely specialized health practitioners. The severity of the condition must be well scrutinized and the patients given a chance to deal with these conditions. This results from the caregivers assessing the situation, administering counseling to the mothers or at times includes the services of mental health workforces, in handling the condition. In the study of the care and support given to the mothers, it is recommended that the kind of services being offered by the health facilities be scrutinized so that patients can have the services that suit their conditions. The role of the midwives is of great importance since they are the first hand contact with these mothers. They have been known for their screening and referral services, and are the best persons that ought to be consulted in the case of the severity of the condition. Leader, et al. (2005) indicate that early detection of this kind of problem has been indicated to be one of the most important aspects of monitoring and care of these conditions. In the cases when women go through postnatal depression the most applicable forms of care is to make certain that they go through treatment from a specialists who are well conversant with perinatal mental health conditions (Gavin, et al., 2005). Admission to hospitals is recommended to specialists who have undergone training. Studies indicate that for women who have undergone treatment from health specialists have indicated a lot of improvement unlike mothers who have undergone treatment from practitioners who do not have experience. This is to mean that specialized treatment is vital for the success of application, assessment and monitoring of healthcare programs. To prove this fact, the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale has been used to validate the care being offered to the women with postnatal depression (Cox & Holden, 2003). Conclusively, it has always been recommended that the women go through treatment from appropriate and trained personalities in the quest to access medical care. Access to care by the NICE guidelines In an attempt to deal with the increasing number of postnatal conditions by women, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) devised a methodology in which they would deal with the adversities of the condition whilst under care. The guidelines by NICE emanate from the need to by the health practitioners to come up with measures that would prevent occurrence of the condition on a perinatal point of view that would be beneficial for dealing with postnatal depression (Murray, et al., 2007). This kind of care to the patients deals with the health practitioners being in a position to check for the factors that may cause the depression, apply the best methodologies for dealing with the condition, as well as providing the patients to understand the best measures to apply in case of succumbing to the condition. This kind of care can be described both as psychological and pharmaceutical, with the families being advised to join in the treatment. Among the recommended form of care for the patients with the postnatal depression is recommended for the need for support both form the family, as well as societal support if the depression has to diminish. On the other hand, NICE believes that the conditions of the depression can only be attained if the patients go through a process of understanding of the care being offered to them (NICE, 2007). The NICE indicates that the kind of services being offered to the must not be useful for the organizations, but mostly geared towards making the individuals succumbing to the condition (NICE, 2007).The care for postnatal depression, therefore, ought to be more personalized than directed towards the organization. Many patients have been able to deal with the condition through personalized care from the practitioners. According to the research conducted by Negri, et al. (2005), women must be given as easier time as possible to deal with the kind of condition that they go through by designing their own form of systems that would allow for individualized care not only for themselves, but for their babies as well. Women must be considered vulnerable and in need of care especially in the journey through with their pregnancy. Postnatal mental healthcare includes the health practitioners being able to differentiate between the kind of help- psychological or emotional- that the patients must be given. With this, the patients will be able to detect any form of changes that are existent after the care and the kind of support to offer. Detection of occurrences of the illness is the major aspect that all health practitioners must look into whilst dealing with postnatal depression patients. This can only happen if the care givers conduct a follow up on the patients since the occurrence of the condition to the completion of the medication. Provision of treatment- inpatient- must be made available to all the patients with a lot of ease, and to fit any number of patients under the condition (Ramchandani, et al., 2005). The question of accessibility of care In an endeavor to understand the concept of postnatal depression and the kind of care being offered to the mothers, it is of great importance to understand the present status of the kind of help being offered to the mothers. According to the research conducted by Trybulski, et al., (2001), it is evident that the maternity services that are presently in the country are conducive enough for quality provision of services for the patients. In actuality these services can be indicated to be struggling with the conditions and the rising number of patients in these facilities has not been taken with a lot of ease by the health practitioners. Among the predicaments being faced in an attempt to deal with postnatal depression results from the fact that the kind of services being provided by the practitioners is not of high quality, therefore, a lot of women end up having worse conditions unlike those that had been experienced prior to the worsening of the condition (Austin & Lumley, 2003). Research indicates that poor communication between the practitioners and the mothers has caused a lot of detachments between the mothers and the practitioners. With poor rapport the practitioners are not able to discern if the patients are getting better or whether they need a lot of care to deal with their conditions. Additionally, the number of staff conversant with handling the condition has been termed as extremely minimal, and the few existent do not have proper skills of dealing with the condition. With these facts, it is only easy to tell that the conditions will get worse; or rather the kind of help that needs to be presented to these mothers is absent. Patel, Murphy & Peters (2005) in their study, emphasizes that with the years, the amount of care and support that is being offered to the mothers after delivery is indeed not decreasing by the day. In actual fact, Patel, Murphy & Peters’ (2005) study indicates that a lot of women rarely go postnatal checks, an important factor that can be used to reduce postnatal depression. Postnatal checks have been credited for their ability to give the mothers a chance to open up and give their fears on their new condition which in turn have been successful with the support of the health practitioners and the accompanying family members. However, the case has been totally different both on an individual level and on the government side, who indicates that the amount of budgetary expenditures are too much than it can handle. The health facilities in this case, are being forced to handle the cases in their own way; thus, force the mothers to survive with the scarcity of the service. The government, on the other hand, has been forced to ask the management of the health facilities to survive with the current levels of their staff. The implications of this move have been directed to the major beneficiaries of the services who are the mothers who are in dire need for help. NICE guidelines on postnatal depression In relation to NICE guidelines, the Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) are charged with the responsibility of assessing if the kind of assistance being offered by the health practitioners is in line with the provisions of proper health. So as to adhere with the provisions of proper mental health of the mothers undergoing postnatal depression, the NICE provides guidelines that hypothesize the validity of the entire provision of care for postnatal depressed mothers. One of the evaluation methods that must go hand in hand with proper handling of postnatal depression is monitoring the process of dealing with the condition. The Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) have been charged with the role of assessing and reviewing the performance of the health service providers. The health facilities had to comply with this provision by ensuring that they code all kinds of information that would be useful in monitoring the progress of the patients whilst under care. The managers also had to have facts on the kind of initiatives they have to apply while dealing with the postnatal depression. The management of the hospitals, according to the NICE (2007) guidelines, also indicates that it is of importance that the management store all forms of feedback that emanate from the feedback of the users of the services being provided. This would make it easier to assess if the health service providers are on the right track or if a lot of interventions have to be put in place to deal with the conditions. The management of health practitioners offering help to postnatal depression must embrace the risk management policy as depicted by NICE guidelines in relation to offering proper care to postnatal depressed mothers. This is inclusive of the management constantly and consistently reporting on the likelihood of occurrence of challenges in the provision of aid to the patients. These aspects can be linked with the policy of NICE that asks that all health practitioners must be well trained on the roles they are expected to play whilst under duty. With offering training to the staff members, the management will easily comply with the rules set by NICE; thus, better services to the postnatal affected mothers (NICE, 2007). Auditing of the works conducted within a health facility is a compliance of the NICE guideline. The management must ensure that the carry out the auditing process twice per year then, submit their records to the NICE for scrutinization and monitoring. The committees must also govern the progress of the audit, and give direction for the continuity of the management’s activities. The services of NICE operators have been incorporated by the Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) and advisors so as to join forces and comply with the policies put in place by the group. Among the services put in place by the management of many health facilities is to come up with plans of training its staff to deal with the demands of the NICE, formulate policies that govern their operation, and finally devise an implementation plan for the policies set. With the compliance of these guidelines put across by NICE it is possible that the management is likely to get to attainance of the policies of NICE as well as provide the best services to the postnatal depressed women (NICE, 2007). Monitoring and reviewing the postnatal services In order to scrutinize and appraise the performance and credibility of the postnatal health services, all managers must ensure that they hold regular meetings with the health providers, they involve patients in making crucial, decisions that regard to improvement of the services that are required among the postnatal depressed mothers. The complaints and the complements must also be put into check, audits well prepared and reviews of the facility’s performance paved way for assessment of the performance of the facility. In as much as a great percentage of the PCTs did not have enough facilities to conduct assessments on the functionality of their systems, most of them had to assess their systems single handedly, through constant reviews of the kind of services being offered to the postnatal depressed women and set aside standards that are related to the monitoring of the systems. However, the patient responses should not be the only useful services for the monitoring the process of provision of services to the postnatal depressed mothers as has been the case by many PCTs. All the aspects that are useful for accrediting the viability of the services provided must be the major reason for action of these health practitioners. Incorporation of external monitoring services must also be applied on the case of these health practitioners. NICE (2007) indicates that a lot of PCTs are not keen to ensure that they comply with the guidelines by the NICE, a factor that causes a lot of alarm on the side of the postnatal depressed women and their dire need for care. This is, therefore, a call to the government to come up with systems that will see proper coordination of the functions of the health service providers. Monitoring and reviewing of the postnatal services is indeed a great aspect that governs the functionality of the provision of health services. Conclusion Conclusively, mental health must not be taken for granted for all persons, especially to women who have had children and show early signs of postnatal depression. As indicated earlier the number of women succumbing to postnatal depression increases with the years, with one of ten women being at risk to being depressed. The kind of services being offered to the women can arguably be indicated not to be of a hundred percent useful for the mothers. Additionally, a lot of women are facing a lot of discrimination after depression consequently, increasing the chances that they will be more depressed and have low self esteem (Holden, et al., 2005). The government and all stakeholders must collaborate and devise plans on coming up with a lifelong resolution on helping postnatal depressed mothers. It is also evident that some sections of the PCTs do not completely adhere to the set regulations of the NICE. If stringent measures are put in place, chances are that dealing with postnatal depression will be easier. It is recommended that mothers succumbing to postnatal depression be in constant touch with their health providers so as to have regular checkups on their conditions. With the myriad of specializations that are required to deal with the condition, all forces must be put in place to make the completion of the health provision a success. References Austin, M., & Lumley, J., 2003. Antenatal screening for postnatal depression: a systematic review. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 107, 10–17. Bennett, P., Honey, K. L., & Morgan, M., 2002. A brief psycho-educational group intervention for postnatal depression. The British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 41, 405– 409. Brugha, et al., 2000. Pragmatic randomized trial of antenatal intervention to prevent post-natal depression by reducing psychosocial risk factors. Psychological Medicine, 30, 1273–1281. Cox, J., & Holden, J., 2003. 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