Even though nearly one quarter of all mothers in Shanghai, China suffer postpartum depression (PPD), 70% of women do not seek help for perinatal mental health problems. The issue is particularly challenging for the 3.2 million women of childbearing age who live in the city as migrants. They could be more susceptible to PPD than local residents due to a lack of social support, health care, and social services as well as isolation and language barriers. Despite these challenges, little is known about these women’s needs and the services they receive due to a lack of clinical diagnosis of PPD and a reluctance among women to access care.

This seed grant aims to better understand the factors that lead to treatment gaps for migrant women with PPD by gathering information from the women themselves, their caregivers, hospital staff, and community health workers. Then, through a better understanding of the systemic barriers and facilitators of care, researchers hope to develop more specific research questions around policy and recommended interventions for future studies.

Funders: Stanford Center for Innovation in Global Health, Stanford Center for Asian Research and Education

Principal Investigators: Gary Darmstadt, Carmen Lee

Photo Credit: Henrik Berger Jørgensen, Flickr