H10 – Building Capacity for Self-management and Peer Support among Rural Women with Postpartum Mental Health Needs through an Early Intervention Program

Summary

This presentation will use a PDSA framework to illustrate the implementation of an early intervention and secondary prevention initiative for women with postpartum depression and anxiety in rural Nova Scotia. This community based initiative directly fills a gap identified by mothers with postpartum mental health needs, family physicians and public health nurses, and complements office-based primary care and outreach distance interventions. By listening to the women, accessing early treatment protocols and resources from the IWK Reproductive Mental Health Care program, and establishing a stable workforce and specialist collaboration, we have created primary care treatment and secondary prevention that is sustainable and will serve rural women with postpartum mental health needs either sufficiently or until they can access specialized mental health services. This project has provided key learning about the potential spread of postpartum mental health care for rural women across Nova Scotia provided by primary care networks of teams and partners. Now in its fourth year of implementation as part of Primary Health Care services in the Annapolis Valley, the focus is on continued evaluation and patient advice for improvement. The evaluation component is strengthened in 2020 through our partnership with the family medicine residency program as one resident’s community project. The presentation will highlight continued improvement such as our current virtual care option, enhanced emphasis on self-management and the spread of peer support within communities by the women who have attended the program.