Isobel Sophie, Dixon Kahala, Tutt Alison, Clay Bridget, Lim-Gibson Sylvia
University of Sydney, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia.
Department of Mental Health, Sydney Local Health District, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia.
Health Expect. 2025 Feb;28(1):e70135. doi: 10.1111/hex.70135.
A lack of social support contributes to women from culturally diverse backgrounds experiencing higher rates of perinatal distress and lower rates of service engagement.
OBJECTIVE/METHODS: This participatory action research study aimed to understand what a culturally appropriate social intervention may look like for pregnant women from culturally diverse backgrounds. Field notes and qualitative transcripts were descriptively synthesised.
Challenges of engaging with culturally diverse communities in the context of perinatal health services were identified. Cultural factors and practices were seen to impact upon service engagement, with parents more likely to seek support outside of health settings. Community members expressed frustrations with the lack of deep cultural sensitivity in the structure and delivery of health services. Clear definitions in scope and aim of any intervention were indicated, before further community engagement.
Challenges in engaging individuals and services from diverse communities highlighted the risks of ideas embedded in oversimplified understandings based on cultural stereotypes and assumptions of homogeneity of experiences at the intersection of cultural diversity, perinatal distress and health services.
Deep cultural sensitivity requires an understanding of how members of population groups perceive and understand health and wellbeing to directly inform the development of any intervention. Attempting to design a culturally sensitive intervention for socially isolated and culturally diverse parents within mainstream health services, led to a paradoxical tension between attempting to address needs in culturally insensitive ways or not attempting to address the needs at all.
Members of the public and people who identified as having lived experience of social isolation, cultural diversity or mental distress were engaged in the community consultation phase of the study.
缺乏社会支持导致来自不同文化背景的女性围产期困扰发生率更高，而服务参与率更低。
目的/方法：这项参与式行动研究旨在了解针对来自不同文化背景的孕妇，何种符合文化背景的社会干预可能会有效。对实地记录和定性转录本进行了描述性综合分析。
确定了在围产期保健服务背景下与不同文化社区接触的挑战。文化因素和习俗被认为会影响服务参与度，父母更有可能在医疗环境之外寻求支持。社区成员对医疗服务的结构和提供过程中缺乏深刻的文化敏感性表示不满。在进一步开展社区参与之前，明确了任何干预措施的范围和目标。
与不同社区的个人和服务机构接触时面临的挑战凸显了基于文化刻板印象和对文化多样性、围产期困扰及医疗服务体验同质性的假设而产生的过于简单化理解中所蕴含观念的风险。
深刻的文化敏感性需要理解不同人群如何看待和理解健康与幸福，以便直接为任何干预措施的制定提供信息。试图在主流医疗服务中为社会孤立且文化背景各异的父母设计具有文化敏感性的干预措施，会导致在以缺乏文化敏感性的方式满足需求或根本不尝试满足需求之间产生自相矛盾的紧张关系。
公众成员以及那些有过社会孤立、文化多样性或精神困扰经历的人参与了该研究的社区咨询阶段。
