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Project

Perinatal depression of (expectant) mothers at a university hospital obstetric outpatient clinic – a precision medicine approach within public health perspective

Perinatal Depression (PD) is one of the most common complications (10-20%) during perinatal period. Though PD has large known impact on the (expectant) mother, the offspring and the supporting environment, both at the short and the longer term, scientific knowledge is far from settled. we will perform a longitudinal epidemiological study of PD across all (expectant) mothers presenting at the outpatient clinic of the university hospital of Leuven (n=+/-2500/year). Despite the need for analytical epidemiological approaches within the field of mental health, such approaches are hardly found. We will overcome this limitation and use both descriptive- and analytical approaches, which will yield unprecedented knowledge on the field of psychiatric epidemiology. Next to this, (causal) hypotheses will be tested, leading to an integrative model of PD as well as other mental health problems. Our data will add to existing knowledge in three ways. First, we will describe sociodemographic and clinical correlates of PD. Second, we will develop multivariate prospective models with risk and protective factors that will predict the course of PD. Third, we will examine the use of services, predictors of service use, and barriers to help-seeking among perinatal women. Finally, it is our aim to develop and implement a prognostic screening tool for PD and mental health in the patient file of all (expectant) mothers at the obstetric outpatient clinic the university hospitals of Leuven.

Date:22 Oct 2020 →  Today
Keywords:Perinatal mental health, Psychiatric epidemiology, Predictive screening, perinatal depression, perinatal anxiety
Disciplines:Psychiatry and psychotherapy not elsewhere classified, Biological psychiatry
Project type:PhD project