Sri Lankan Public Health Midwives’ Knowledge on Maternal Mental Health Disorders

Emotional support and services provided by Public Health Midwives (PHMs) play a crucial role  in identification and management of maternal mental health disorders as they are the first line  contact in maternal and child-care and the focal field health members in caring for the antepartum  and postpartum mothers. Aim of this study was to describe the Sri Lankan PHMs’ knowledge on  maternal mental health disorders. Cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted using  probability proportionate sampling, covering PHMs of all districts in Sri Lanka. Total of 434  PHMs were recruited with 99.1% response rate. A content-validated pre-tested questionnaire was  administered. Univariate and multivariate analysis was used to assess the knowledge of each  component with selected study variables. Respondents’ mean age was 40.6 years. Out of the 430  PHMs, 36% of them were unaware, that symptoms of Depression and anxiety could be  commonly seen during antenatal and postpartum period. It was found that only 21.8% of the  respondents knew the average number of maternal deaths due to suicides in Sri Lanka. Forty seven percentage of the respondents did not know, that providing understanding, empathy and  support was the most appropriate step in managing mothers with Postpartum Blues. This study  findings highlight major deficiencies in basic knowledge of PHMs in identifying and initial  management of common maternal mental health disorders. Therefore, focus on continuous  professional development of PHMs should be prioritized.