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Midwives' perceived barriers in communicating about depression with ethnic minority clients
Barbara C Schouten1, Myrte Westerneng2, Anne-Marike Smit3
1Amsterdam School of Communication Research/ASCoR, Centre for Urban Mental Health, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Objective:
This study aimed to assess the most influential barriers midwives perceive in communicating about depression-related symptoms with ethnic minority clients.
Methods:
In-depth interviews were held with midwives (N = 8) and Moroccan-Dutch women (N = 6) suffering from perinatal depression to identify the most salient communication barriers. Subsequently, an online survey among midwives (N = 60) assessing their perceived barriers and the occurrence of these barriers in practice was administered. Composite scores using the QUOTE methodology were calculated to determine influential barriers.
Results:
Three types of barriers emerged from the interviews. Educational-related barriers, client-related barriers and midwife-related barriers. Results of the survey showed that the most influential barriers were educational-related barriers (e.g. lack of culturally sensitive depression screening instruments) and client-related barriers (e.g. cultural taboo about talking about depression).
Conclusion:
Culturally sensitive screening instruments for depression and patient education materials should be developed to mitigate the educational-related barriers to communicating about depression. Patient education materials should also target the clients' social environment (e.g. husbands) to help break the cultural taboo about depression.
Practice Implications:
Based on this study's results, communication strategies to empower both midwives and ethnic minority clients with depression can be developed in a collaborative approach.
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