Pre and Post Survey findings from the Mind Charity Building Resilience Programme for Better Mental Health: Pregnant Women and New Mothers

Background: During the childbirth continuum pregnant women and new mothers can be at increased risk of mental health problems. Exploring ways to build resilience to promote health and wellbeing is an important aspect of care. The links between mental health, physical health and social support need to be taken into consideration. Mind, Mental Health Charity, UK, has recently developed a triad model for building resilience to promote better mental health. This model encompasses health and wellbeing, psychological therapies and social support aspects and introduces a range of coping strategies, which build self-esteem and confidence. Methods: Pregnant women and new mothers completed a pre and post survey as part of a mixed methods study evaluation. Four pilot sites representing a diverse population within urban and rural regions in England were selected. Following ethical approval a structured questionnaire comprising of 3 sections of measures relating to wellbeing, how positive women felt about solving problems and achieving goals and levels of social support was used to collect baseline and post-intervention post data. A combined overall score was calculated by adding together the totals from the 3 sections representing the dimensions of resilience. 95% confidence intervals of the mean change in scores from pre to post stage were calculated. Paired (related samples) t-tests were used to assess statistically significant differences in mean scores. Results: A sample of 108 pregnant women and new mothers returned the pre and post survey questionnaire. Survey results show that by attending a building resilience programme for mental health, participating pregnant women and new mothers developed and maintained resilience. Results across all the three dimensions of resilience (wellbeing, coping strategies and self efficacy and social connections) for the four pilot programmes show a statistically significant improvement in pre to post measurements scores. Conclusions: The Mind Build resilience Model promotes engagement in positive activities, helps to build social connections and learning about mood and mind has assisted pregnant women and new mothers to build and maintain some resilience to stay well.

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