Browsing by Subject "Postpartum Depression"

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    The Caring Police Wear Cardigans: Reading Embodied Emotions Towards Anti-Oppressive Education
    (2018-06) Gast, Kelly
    White, middle-class women make up the majority of public school teachers in the United States of America while the student population is diversifying rapidly (Taie & Goldring, 2017). The need for these educators to cultivate a critical consciousness is high if our education system is to be equitable for all students (Winans, 2012). This study focuses on an embodied approach to teacher reflexivity by paying attention to teachers’ emotions and wondering about what those emotions might mean in relation to the beliefs and values that undergird teaching philosophies. In this post-intentional phenomenological study, I investigate the phenomenon of white, middle-class women educators reading their embodied emotions evoked in classroom moments circulating with race and/or class. Four women, including the author, shared emotionally evocative moments and analyzed them over a series of individual and collective interviews. The shared classroom moments were all marked by conflicting emotional responses within the same moment (e.g. joy and despair, guilt and pride, anger and shame, power and helplessness). When we talked about our emotionally evocative classroom moments, the ideology of white femininity and of motherhood pervaded all of the moments. The social control of emotions (Boler, 1999) was also evident in the emotionally conflicted embodied responses we felt and how we policed our own emotional responses to the moments we shared. These contradictions indicated areas to question our beliefs and values about our pedagogical choices, our teaching philosophies, and institutional narratives of teaching guiding those choices and philosophies. Implications from this study are methodological, practical, and theoretical. Identifying and writing feminist storylines that include emotions for reading educational moments is a methodological implication of this study. Historicizing teacher education with preservice teachers and incorporating the teaching philosophy as a foundational and adaptable tool are practical implications for teacher education. Decoupling the notion of caring from the ideal of the teacher/mother and transitioning to caring as teacher/artist is a theoretical implication of this work.
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    Low income women‟s expectations, needs, and desires for social support in the postpartum period: a feasibility study.
    (2012-02) Uban, Nicolle Marie
    The postpartum period represents a significant transition in women's lives. This critical period of adjustment is characterized by physical, emotional and psychological stressors that impact women's experiences, adaptation and health and wellness. Common stressors in the puerperal period include: the transition to motherhood and associated role change and role stress; physical stressors such as hormonal fluctuations, altered sleep, and pain; and, psychological stressors including interpersonal relationship challenges, self esteem and self confidence issues, and postpartum depression (PPD). Social support has been identified as a factor contributing to women's experiences in the postpartum period (Beck, 2001; Dennis, 2003). Lack of social support is also a predictor of functional status problems in the puerperal period (McVeigh, 1997). There is a body of noteworthy literature examining the association between social support interventions provided by health professionals, and negative affect in the new mother (Armstrong, Fraser, Dadds et al., 1999; O'Hara, Stuart, Gorman, & Wenzel, 2000). Critical gaps in maternal support needs have been identified in the literature and indicate that high risk populations of women might benefit from targeted social support services and interventions (Armstrong, Fraser, Dadds et al., 1999; Dennis, 2003; Shaw, Levitt, Wong et al., 2006). The purpose of this feasibility study was to examine and describe low-income postpartum women's perceptions, expectations, and desires for social support and the feasibility and acceptability of a postpartum doula as a vehicle for social support services in the postpartum period. This study utilized focus groups, a social support survey and a socio-demographic survey for data collection. The final sample included a total of 30 participants. First, a pilot test with one participant was conducted to trial the focus group questions and user-friendliness of the social support and demographic surveys. This was followed by three focus groups: Group 1 with nine participants; Group 2 had fifteen participants; and Group 3 had five participants. Recruitment of participants was conducted by a community doula program in the Upper Midwest that has an established priority to serve low-income women.Four categories emerged during the content analysis process identifying types of support that were most important to participants in the postpartum period and areas where they experienced gaps in support: (1) Functional support; (2) Physical support; (3) Educational/Informational support; and, (4) Emotional support/Presence. The findings from the social support survey confirmed this information, as well as identified deficits in the availability of individuals within their support networks to provide much needed support. Participants in this study had experience with birth doulas and expressed interest in postpartum doula care as a desirable method for providing individualized support to meet their needs and to fill deficits in their existing support systems. The findings from both the focus group analysis and the social support survey reiterate the importance of a broader social support network in low-income postpartum women's lives. This study adds to the existing body of research by laying out the foundational pieces for designing an effective intervention targeted to meet postpartum women's expectations, needs, and desires for social support in the postpartum period. Furthermore, the information from this study provides those providing support to new mothers with necessary information to expand current practices in the maternity care model to include targeted postpartum doula support interventions that may ultimately influence maternal outcomes. Additional research is indicated in order to determine the effectiveness of targeted, individualized, in-home social support interventions for women in the postpartum period.
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    Postpartum Depression: Information and Treatment Options
    (2009-05-04) Keppeler, Philip
    There have been relatively few well-designed studies investigating the efficacy of SSRIs or other antidepressants to treat postpartum depression, and questions remain about the safety of SSRIs for nursing mothers. Although not statistically significant, the study cited in this report and project supports the efficacy and use of antidepressants in a select population of women suffering from postpartum depression. The same study supports cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) as equally effective in treating postpartum depression.