PPD education questionnaire - assessing needs in our communi

eschaya

Sat, Apr 26 2014, 11:02 pm

https://docs.google.com/forms/....._link
If you have just 3 minutes and can fill out this anonymous questionnaire about educational needs in our community regarding postpartum depression I would really appreciate it!
This is for a graduate school project I am conducting, but as someone who had PPD myself - and had no education or support about it - this topic is very close to my heart. The questionnaire is NOT assessing the incidence of PPD in our community, or reasons behind it, but rather is looking to find the priority educational needs relating to this very important topic.
The questionnaire I have created is fully anonymous; no name or identifying details required.
Thank you so much for your help; both in aiding me to complete this school project, but more importantly in highlighting the need for more education/discussion about this topic.
Also, please feel free to forward the link to anyone from the FFB community (not for discriminatory reasons, but just because I am looking to identify gaps of knowledge in our educational system) who may be interested in helping.
Thanks so much in advance!

CPenzias

Sat, Apr 26 2014, 11:57 pm

I understand that it's a small sample. I'm curious though. I wonder if others feel as I do.

I have an 8 year old and a 10 month old. This time around I had a lot more trouble. I was irritable, upset, yelling and stressed out all the time. It was horrible. One day at work I broke down and my colleagues told me to call my ob because I might have ppd. I told them that I don't feel any animosity towards my baby eyc. They said that you don't necessarily feel that with ppd. I really didn't know a lot. ..Needless to say, I do have it and my ob prescribed something for me. I'm a teacher so I'm planning on trying to stop taking it in the summer and see how I feel. ..

Just a shout out to other mama's. .. If you think you have Jr then get help. You'd get medication if you were sick and depression is an illness. .. It sucks. You shouldn't have to be sad all the time.

amother

Sun, Apr 27 2014, 10:48 am

I also completed it.

I found that a large part of the the lack of education was on the parents' side. I wasn't actually diagnosed with PPD; it was more like PP blues. The problem was that both my mother and mother-in-law had a million "reasons" for why I'm feeling like this and contradicting suggestions like nursing more vs. supplementing with formula (DC was a difficult nurser.) My single sisters also added to the problem by making fun of me that I am depressed, not realizing that it's no joke and I actually was.
DH and I had no clue what was in the realm of normal and what not. DH, at one point, thought I'd had a nervous breakdown. Thank goodness he didn't tell it to me then, but he confided the incident to his mother who told him it's 100% normal when suffering from such utter exhaustion and lack of sleep.
DH couldn't really be my support either because whatever I did (as a first time mom) was up for debate: maybe this is not working or that way is better. (baby's sleeping position, baby's thrush, swaddling or no, overdressing baby vs. baby's cold) Every small thing became a huge issue and eroded my self-confidence in my ability to be a mother. It was one of the worst times in my life where I felt I was completely alone. Even the baby seemed to be "against" me, crying and crying.... together with me....

B"H by the next one, we all knew a bit more what to expect, which techniques do work and which ones don't, the baby was a better nurser, and we kept our parents OUT OF THE PICTURE as much as possible. DH trusted me more and I learned to speak to Hashem when things felt out of control rather than vent to my DH. This kept our relationship more on track.

The point of my post is this: as much as I might have had somewhat of an education about PPD, I believe education needs to be geared towards the older generation who thinks that PPD is a madeup condition, "all in the mind"... They are often the caregivers for new moms, they are more experienced, and they need to know what to be on the lookout for.

eschaya

Sun, May 11 2014, 9:12 pm

Thanks to all of you who participated in the survey. I received a total of 74 respondents after 3 days and worked from there. I will highlight some of the results of the survey, but if any of you want to read my paper (it's 28 pages long, in APA format, graphs and charts and tables, but it's not a real research paper, just a final paper for one out of many grad school classes) you can PM me and I'll send you the link.

OK, so as all of you would expect, there is a real educational gap in the frum community on the topic of postpartum depression. The way I determined my gaps was by taking the average score on each measure of perceived importance, and subtracting from that the average score of the corresponding measure of education. For example, if on average you all indicated that the importance of knowing about PPD risk factors is a 4.5 (where "1" meant not at all important and "5" meant very important), and then you indicated that you score a 3 on extent of knowledge in this area (with "1" indicating no knowledge and "5" indicating full knowledge), then the gap between perceived importance and education would be 1.5. Any positive score suggests an educational gap, but the larger the gap means the larger the discrepancy between perceived importance and knowledge. Also, just for the sake of interests, in addition to getting the gaps of the entire group on each of the 8 PPD topics, I also divided the group by women who had PPD and women who didn't have PPD to note any educational differences between the groups. I also separately split the group between those who categorized themselves as Yeshivish, Chassidish, and MO to note any differences between the groups. Also, to remind you, the 8 topics I surveyed were: risk factors, signs and symptoms, when it occurs, treatment modalities, coping strategies, resources in the frum community, safety of psychotropic meds in nursing, and likelihood of recurrence in future pregnancies.

For specific results...
- The gaps were positive on all 8 topics, meaning we all are less informed about every topic than we think we should be
- The topics with the biggest gaps were: resources in the frum community and safety of meds while nursing (note: gaps can be due either to high perceived importance, but can also occur when there is really little info even on a topic you don't think is the most important)
- When split based on experience of PPD, as expected, the women who have had PPD had smaller gaps by indicating that they have more knowledge on the topic. Yup, if you have it, you don't have much of a choice but to get yourself somewhat educated about it.
- Interestingly, among women who had PPD, the only topic for which they indicated LESS knowledge than the other groups was "resources in the frum community". These women (myself included) realize how hidden and scarce are the resources so desperately needed.
- When divided by religious affiliation, MO women had the most knowledge about PPD, Yeshivish women less, and Chassidish women the least. This awareness really needs to guide the leaders of these communities, especially since women in the lesser educated communities are more likely to have more children and therefore increase their risk of PPD.
- I highlighted some of the barriers we have in our communities that prevent widespread education about PPD (all based off published literature). They include an existing stigma towards mental illness, worry about being seen an mentally unstable and the effects this has on shidduch potential for the sufferer and extended family, lack of support groups geared towards this exact population, motherhood being such a goal of importance in our society that having PPD can be seen as "failing" your ultimate purpose, among others.

Anyway, thanks you all. I've always had a passion about this, and seeing the results of the questionnaire - and more importantly the rapidity and intensity with which the survey was responded to - just encourage me to pursue this more. Maybe a PhD thesis... and one day breaking the stigma in the frum world, normalizing the disease, and bringing support and openness and discussion to our community.