The thought of being able to actively support this patient group at such a vulnerable time in their lives in such a dynamic way is incredibly exciting ."
The thought of being able to actively support this patient group at such a vulnerable time in their lives in such a dynamic way is incredibly exciting ."
Developing the group
The aims of the group were to :
• Reduce social isolation in the postnatal period .
• Reduce stigma related to maternal mental health difficulties .
• Provide education on a range of topics relevant to post-natal mums .
• Enable mums to connect with other mums going through similar experiences .
• Enable mums to build their confidence in relation to parenting tasks and bonding with their baby .
Most importantly we wanted to offer the mums a safe space to come together and share experiences .
Group referral pathway and format
Referrals were invited from members of the multidisciplinary team and included a discussion regarding group appropriateness . As facilitators we then contacted each participant prior to the group to discuss the format and explore ways to support their engagement .
The pilot group ran for six weeks , which was felt to be an appropriate length of time – long enough to support group cohesion , but also a length of time that felt achievable for the mums within the group .
The importance of having a safe accessible space was crucial . We were able to utilise an occupational therapy specific space , which was large , bright and welcoming , and we had access to a kitchen and disabled bathroom spaces .
There were coffee , tea and snacks waiting when the women arrived and we were able to access funds to buy play mats and toys for the babies . This allowed for some modelling to take place in regard to demonstrating age appropriate toys and activities .
Each session was based on a parenting theme , including areas such as feeding and sleeping , reinforced by the Five to Thrive principles ( Cairns
2020 ). It was a semistructured group divided in two parts ; the first a guided discussion based on that week ’ s theme and the second half was an open discussion forum .
After all the sessions ,
100 %
felt confident in their parenting skills
Each session then finished with a poem or a thought related to parenting – the underlying aim to remind the mums that they were doing a great job .
Feedback from participants
We were conscious that this was a pilot group and so feedback was crucial . We designed our own questionnaire , which was administered in the first session and again in the final session .
As part of this feedback participants were asked to rate a number of statements on a scale from ‘ strongly disagree ’ to ‘ strongly agree ’. These statements focused on views regarding the group , such as ‘ I found this group supportive ’, to statements related to their views on their parenting experiences , for example ‘ I feel confident in my parenting skills ’.
At the end of our first session , 80 % of participants rated ‘ strongly agree ’ to the statement ‘ I found the session helpful ’. At the end of the final
24 OTnews May 2023