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Creating a Multisite Perinatal Psychiatry Databank: Purpose and Development
Wid Kattan1, Laura Avigan2, Barbara Hayton3
1Division of Psychiatry, Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
Insights
Perinatal mental health is common, affecting many pregnant and postpartum women. This study created a databank to track mental health over time, aiding research into illness patterns and contributing factors.
Area of Science:
- Perinatal Psychiatry
- Mental Health Research
- Longitudinal Studies
Background:
- Perinatal mental health conditions are prevalent, impacting a significant percentage of pregnant and postpartum individuals.
- Understanding the long-term progression of these illnesses remains limited.
- Existing research lacks comprehensive longitudinal data on perinatal psychiatric disorders.
Purpose of the Study:
- To establish a collaborative electronic databank for collecting longitudinal patient data within perinatal mental health services.
- To facilitate research into the trajectories of mental health disorders during the perinatal period.
- To enable the study of rare mental disorders and the interplay of biological and psychosocial factors.
Main Methods:
- A collaboration was formed among six perinatal mental health services in Quebec, Canada.
- Standardized variables were identified and selected for data collection during clinical appointments.
- An electronic databank was developed to integrate patient self-report questionnaires and clinician-recorded medical information.
- Participants are followed from pregnancy until six months postpartum.
Main Results:
- An electronic databank capturing longitudinal perinatal mental health data has been successfully created.
- The databank integrates both patient-reported psychosocial data and clinician-documented medical information.
- Data collection covers the entire perinatal period, from pregnancy through six months postpartum.
Conclusions:
- The established databank provides a valuable resource for examining longitudinal illness trajectories in perinatal mental health.
- It offers a unique opportunity to investigate rare psychiatric disorders and their associated biological and psychosocial correlates.
- This initiative supports both clinical care and in-depth research into maternal mental well-being.
Abstract:
Mental health issues during the perinatal period are common; up to 29% of pregnant and 15% of postpartum women meet psychiatric diagnostic criteria. Despite its ubiquity, little is known about the longitudinal trajectories of perinatal psychiatric illness. This paper describes a collaboration among six perinatal mental health services in Quebec, Canada, to create an electronic databank that captures longitudinal patient data over the course of the perinatal period. The collaborating sites met to identify research interests and to select a standardized set of variables to be collected during clinical appointments. Procedures were implemented for creating a databank that serves both research and clinical purposes. The resulting databank allows pregnant and postpartum patients to complete self-report questionnaires on medical and psychosocial variables during their intake appointment in conjunction with their clinicians who fill in relevant medical information. All participants are followed until 6 months postpartum. The databank represents an opportunity to examine illness trajectories and to study rare mental disorders and the relationship between biological and psychosocial variables.
