FINAL BOOK OF ABSTRACTS 2019

School of Nursing and Midwifery Scoil an Altranais agus an Chnáimhseachais

were digitally recorded, transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis guided by Burnard’s (1991) framework Results: Three main themes emerged: -‘awareness of Perinatal Mental Health’, ‘discussing emotional well-being’, and ‘the woman has something (like) to divulge’. The themes convey midwives awareness/recognition and perceptions of PMH. How midwives discuss/assess emotional well-being, the observational skills they utilise, along with what they perceive are the barriers and facilitators to discussing mental well-being are all identified in the themes. Conclusion: Midwives reported an awareness and acceptance that women’s emotional health was as important as their physical health. Midwives utilised every antenatal opportunity to raise awareness about PMH, despite challenges in getting women to open up.

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