Assessing postpartum depression among low-income mothers: Culture, race, and ethnicity

Many new mothers across cultural, racial, ethnic, and income groups experience stress, anxiety, worry, depression, and sleep deprivation during the perinatal period. Often, these new mothers assume their struggles are normal for motherhood and reasonable responses to personal, family, and social issues. Many mothers find it difficult to share their feelings with family, partners, friends, and healthcare professionals, and may fear their child will be taken away from them if they seek social work services. These circumstances can lead to mothers under-reporting their symptoms of postpartum depression. This poster presentation addresses both the common and the unique experiences of diverse groups of mothers and identifies appropriate screening tools social workers can use to assess postpartum depression between and among diverse populations. Public health professionals will benefit by this presentation in providing services to diverse populations of new mothers including immigrant and refugee populations.