Sistema Bibliotecario de la Universidad de Quintana Roo

This book fills the gap in knowledge of cultural and social issues relating to pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood. The book is basedon a study which explored how women and their partners in Melbourne, Australia, understood and resolved postnatal depression (PND). The central argument was the significance of support before and after the birth for womens emotional well-being. Thirty-three women who experienced PND were individually interviewed, and eighteen partnerswere eitherindividually interviewed or attended a focus group. Women were asked to draw their experience of PND and its resolution; these drawings werepowerful representations of their lived experience and are included in thisbook.The book highlights the struggles women faced and the amount of support they received from health professionals, family andfriends before and after the birth. The partners provided valuable insights aboutthesupport they provided to women,their understanding of PND, as well as their own emotional well-being after the birth. This book offers much more thanprevious books: it provides the stories of both the women and their partners and a research method (drawings) that is new in the health and social sciences. The insights presented in this book can be used to inform and develop programs to identify women who are particularly vulnerable to experiencing PND, or to improve the treatment of the illness to assist other families in their recovery.