Ahmed Asma, Bowen Angela, Feng Cindy Xin
School of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada.
College of Nursing, University of Saskatchewan, 104 Clinic Place, Health Sciences Building, Room 4246, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 2Z4, Canada.
BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2017 Jul 24;17(1):240. doi: 10.1186/s12884-017-1433-2.
Refugee women are almost five times more likely to develop postpartum depression than Canadian-born women. This can be attributed to various difficulties they faced before coming to Canada as well as during resettlement. Moreover, refugee women usually face many obstacles when accessing health services, including language and cultural barriers, as well as unique help-seeking behaviors that are influenced by various cultural and practical factors. There has been a recent, rapid influx of Syrian refugees to Canada, and many of them are childbearing women. However, little is known about the experiences that these women have encountered pre- and post-resettlement, and their perceptions of mental health issues. Thus, there is an urgent need to understand refugee women's experiences of having a baby in Canada from a mental health perspective.
A mixed methods research design included 12 Syrian refugee women who migrated to Saskatoon in 2015-16 and who were either pregnant or 1 year postpartum. The data were collected during a single focus group discussion and a structured questionnaire.
Our results showed that more than half of participants have depressive symptoms, half of them have anxiety symptoms, and one sixth have PTSD symptoms. Three major themes emerged from the qualitative data: 1) Understanding of maternal depression; 2) Protective factors for mental health; and 3) Barriers to mental health services.
Maternal depression is an important feature in Syrian refugee women recently resettled in Canada. Reuniting these women with their families and engaging them in culturally appropriate support programs may improve their mental health outcomes.
难民妇女患产后抑郁症的可能性几乎是在加拿大出生的妇女的五倍。这可归因于她们在来加拿大之前以及重新安置期间所面临的各种困难。此外，难民妇女在获得医疗服务时通常会面临许多障碍，包括语言和文化障碍，以及受各种文化和实际因素影响的独特求助行为。最近，大量叙利亚难民迅速涌入加拿大，其中许多是育龄妇女。然而，对于这些妇女在重新安置前后的经历以及她们对心理健康问题的看法知之甚少。因此，迫切需要从心理健康角度了解难民妇女在加拿大生育的经历。
采用混合方法研究设计，纳入了12名在2015 - 16年移民到萨斯卡通且处于孕期或产后1年的叙利亚难民妇女。数据通过一次焦点小组讨论和一份结构化问卷收集。
我们的结果显示，超过一半的参与者有抑郁症状，一半有焦虑症状，六分之一有创伤后应激障碍症状。定性数据中出现了三个主要主题：1）对产后抑郁症的理解；2）心理健康的保护因素；3）心理健康服务的障碍。
产后抑郁症是最近在加拿大重新安置的叙利亚难民妇女中的一个重要特征。让这些妇女与家人团聚并让她们参与符合文化背景的支持项目可能会改善她们的心理健康状况。
