The Normative Nature of Depression Among Impoverished Mothers of Color: “. . .going around this big old circle . . . it always remain the same”

Abstract

Perinatal depression among impoverished mothers adds an enormous burden to their family responsibilities, which are often further stressed by living in high-crime communities. Thirty impoverished mothers of color living with depression were interviewed about the difficulties they face raising their children. Qualitative interviews about living with depression revealed four themes: recognizing their own depression, feeling isolated, experiencing violence, and living with depression. This article examines how neighborhood and relationship violence, intermittently involved fathers, and isolation contribute to the mothers’ depression. Social workers working with depressed, low-income mothers of color can benefit from understanding the mothers’ lived experience and the barriers the mothers face while trying to achieve well-being for themselves and their children. This study fits within the “Close the Health Gap” area of the Grand Challenges for Social Work.

"I Gotta Carry The Burden By Myself"

“…All the mothers tested within the depressed range on the EPDS, yet most did not acknowledge having depression. Given that many new mothers are frequently unable to take time for themselves, particularly when faced with multiple psychosocial stressors (Alloy et al, 2010;Gallo et al, 2005;Shih et al, 2011), and may be unable to acknowledge having depression (Keefe et al, 2019), they should be given the space to process their feelings in a warm and caring environment (Atkins et al, 2020). Because women of color are less likely than White women to access mental health services (Kozhimannil et al, 2011), health professionals should address access barriers to services and engage in rapport and trust-building to link mothers with professionals.…”

“…It is possible that mothers in 2021 might provide different responses to our questions than we got from the mothers in this study. In our more recent research, conducted in another city, mothers reported their babies' fathers were more supportive (Keefe et al, 2019). However, those interviews were conducted with non-service seeking mothers who had closer bonds with their babies' fathers.…”

“…Most of the studies on maternal depression focus largely on White, heterosexually married women who have access to services, live in middle-class neighborhoods, and have supportive relationships with service providers (Keefe et al, 2015). Much less research has been conducted on low-income mothers of color using the mothers' own voices (Keefe et al, 2015(Keefe et al, , 2019. To help fill this gap in the literature, the authors interviewed 30 lowincome new mothers of color living with PPD who receive services at an inner-city federally qualified health center (FQHC).…”

“…To help fill this gap in the literature, the authors interviewed 30 lowincome new mothers of color living with PPD who receive services at an inner-city federally qualified health center (FQHC). Some of the issues we identified in previous analyses generated questions that led to this particular analysis (Keefe et al, 2016b(Keefe et al, , 2018a(Keefe et al, , 2018b(Keefe et al, , 2019. Specifically, this analysis examined the question: How do mothers cope with the daily stressors of caring for their children and themselves while living in impoverished, under-served, and often violent neighborhoods?…”

‘Just snap out of it’ – the experience of loneliness in women with perinatal depression: a Meta-synthesis of qualitative studies

“… Semi-structured interviews (18 face-to-face & 3 telephone) Thematic analysis 10 Keefe [ 58 ] 2016 30 Postpartum depression Self report USA Flyers in an urban health centre serving low-income residents. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews Constant comparative analysis 4 Keefe [ 59 ] 2019 30 Postpartum depression Self report USA Flyers in an urban health centre serving low-income residents Semi-structured face-to-face interviews Constant comparative analysis 5 Letourneau [ 60 ] 2007 41 Postpartum depression Self report Canada Newspapers and community health care clinics 41 Semi-structured interviews & 11 focus group interviews Thematic content analysis 9 Mauthner [ 61 ] 1995 18 Postpartum depression Self report England Details not available Semi-structured interviews Voice centred relational method 5 Mauthner [ 62 ]** 1998 18 Postpartum depression Self report England Local and national organisations, support groups, health clinics & ‘network sampling’ Semi-structured in-depth interviews Voice centred relational method 6 Montgomery [ 63 ]** 2009 27 Perinatal depression Self report Canada Peer support groups, community mental health agency, public health agency & family play centres Unstructured interviews Narrative analysis 7 Morrow [ 64 ] 2008 …”