Exploring health visitors'role and experiences when working with perinatal mental health and parent-infant relationship difficulities

Section A provides a review of the empirical literature of health visitors’ role in supporting women with perinatal mental health problems (PMHPs). The review outlines what interventions health visitors can offer as well as the effectiveness of these interventions. Other key areas of their role are outlined, for example, making referrals and providing support to women experiencing PMHPs. Papers are reviewed in light of their methodological strengths and limitations, and clinical and research implications are discussed.

Section B describes a qualitative study that explores how health visitors make sense of their experience of talking about difficulties with the parent-infant relationship. Ten semistructured interviews were completed and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Five superordinate themes and related sub themes are outlined and discussed in relation to existing literature. Limitations, clinical implications and future research are outlined.

Section C provides supporting documentation