O-20 Mental Health Literacy and Barriers to Help-seeking among Women in the Perinatal Period
Author(s):
JEM Brathwaite , J Gromer , MH Campbell
Year of Presentation:
2025
Objective: To assess knowledge of available services and
mental health literacy among women attending perinatal
clinics in Barbados.
Methods: All women receiving antenatal and postnatal services across the 9 public polyclinics in Barbados were invited to complete the Inventory of Attitudes Towards Seeking Mental Health Services (IASMHS) and items gauging their knowledge of existing services. We summarised responses and evaluated the psychometric properties of the IASMHS via internal consistency and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).
Results: Of 178 respondents, 40.8 % were aware that mental health professionals are available free of charge in polyclinics. Ninety-five per cent (95 %) CI [.34, .48], while 88.3 % indicated they would be comfortable discussing their mental health with nurses, 95 % CI [.83, .93]. The mean Full Scale IASMHS score was 62.16 (SD = 12.99; Range: 16-87). The mean Psychological Openness score was 14.71 (SD = 5.90; Range: 0-32). For Help-seeking Propensity, the mean score was 23.30 (SD – 5.57; Range; 4-32). For Indifference to Stigma, the mean was 21.48 (SD = 6.17; Range: 4-32). Internal consistency reliability measures were good for the Full Scale and Help-seeking Propensity subscale but less adequate for the Psychological Openness and Indifference to Stigma subscales. CFA fit indices were not within acceptable limits for the 3-factor model.
Conclusion: Findings indicate a need to promote the availability of perinatal mental health services. The psychometric performance of the IASMHS was questionable in this population. Alternative measures of attitudes toward mental health services should be considered.