Research on a peer support programme for pregnant mothers and those who’ve just given birth.
The challenge: Sometimes it’s easier to connect to people from our own communities and to our peers when we need support with our mental health, but it can be hard to know where to find people who understand what we’re going through – particularly during the perinatal period. Peer support programmes offer mental health support from trained community members for pregnant mothers and those who’ve recently given birth, but we don’t know how these programmes might work for mothers in Bradford, who come from many different cultures and speak different languages.
What we’re doing about it
The Family Action perinatal support service provides emotional support to families during pregnancy and the first years of a child’s life where the mother or primary carer has been diagnosed with a low to moderate level of perinatal mental illness, including anxiety and social isolation. Family Action connects mothers and carers with peers from similiar communities who are trained to deliver support around mental health.
At the Hub, we assessed the project’s performance between April 2018 and June 2020 to help the service understand who was accessing Family Action and where referrals were coming from.
Findings
Between April 2018 and June 2020, 295 referrals were made – 49% by Health Visitors and midwives. A total of 94% of referrals were accepted by the project resulting in 169 assessments being started.
A total of 75 families were paired with a peer supporter, receiving on average 7 peer support visits for an average of 12 weeks. In addition, 9 group courses (called ‘TheraPlay’) were delivered with 51 families attending. A total of 29 families received the group sessions and peer support. The project maintained a pool of 41 volunteers
Mothers reported that the project improved their social isolation, helped them cope with their mental health, and they were happy with the support provided.
Future plans
We will continue to support Family Action by helping them collect their data in a way that means their service can be evaluated in the future. In addition, one of the Hub’s interns, Zahrah Tanveer (University of Leeds), is looking at whether the data that has been provided to the Hub can be used to help understand who is accessing the service.
Project summary written by Emma Ansell
the Better Start Bradford Innovation Hub 
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