This is an option module within the MSc Healthcare Practice programme and the PGDip/MSc Advanced Clinical Practice programme. It may also be taken as a free-standing module. The module will enable registered healthcare professionals to critically appraise the intersectionality of the socio-political, racial, economic and cultural context of the care of women and birthing people with perinatal mental health problems. 

The module will also equip you with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to address current challenges in improving outcomes for woman and birthing people with complex psychosocial needs and to critique services in order to advocate for them. It will enable you to understand the importance of providing high-quality, personalised and trauma-informed care through effective interprofessional collaboration and development of managed care pathways.

Aims

The module will develop student’s understanding of perinatal mental wellbeing and highlight the importance of effective interprofessional collaboration. It will equip students with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to meet current challenges in improving outcomes for vulnerable and disadvantaged families.

What and how you will learn on this module

How you will learn:

This module is delivered using a blended learning approach which integrates a variety of on-campus and online activities, supported by Canvas, the University’s virtual learning environment. A complementary range of activities are employed to engage you in the critical exploration of key topic areas, and the completion of formative tasks during the module also helps to keep you on track with the learning and gain feedback on your understanding of the content. A sense of community is developed and maintained with frequent opportunities for peer learning, enabling you to share your practice experiences and to learn from each other. Level 6 and level 7 students taking this module may be taught together.

Academic writing and critical thinking skills are developed through ‘The Critical Thinking Skills Toolkit’ and other academic practice activities embedded within the module, that have been designed to nurture the skills needed to facilitate you to become a thoughtful, objective and reasoned thinker. This will help you tackle the assignment(s) confidently, understand marking criteria, use evidence, take a reasoned approach, make structured arguments and engage with other points of view. 

What you will learn:

• Overview of perinatal mental health – national and international perspectives

• Mental disorders in the perinatal period

• Prevention, prediction, detection and management of perinatal mental health disorders 

• Sociological and cultural perspectives on women and birthing people and mental health

• The impact of perinatal mental illness on relationships and the family

• Complex fertility, pregnancy and baby loss in the context of mental health

• The wider impact of complex psychosocial issues during the perinatal period

• The voice of women, birthing people and their families – service user perspective and the importance of co-production

• Partner mental health

• Supporting families/multi-agency care/multidisciplinary initiatives

• The connectedness between perinatal mental health and physical health

•The importance of trauma informed care in practice and the workplace

• National and local reports reviewing maternity care in the context of trauma and loss.

• Inequalities and mental health

• Clinical guidelines on perinatal mental health e.g. NICE guidelines 

• Developing managed care networks: integrated care pathways

• Professional boundaries and barriers developing effective communication systems.

Course length: 10 Teaching Days

Assessment

Case Study (4000 words)