IMPACT SNAPSHOT: Addressing Perinatal Mental Health Inequalities

We created the “Tackling Perinatal Mental Health Inequalities Framework” addressing systemic barriers affecting 1 in 5 women, now adopted across West Yorkshire.

#Sickness to Prevention

#Hospital to Community

The Yorkshire and Humber ARC’s research on perinatal mental health (PMH) inequalities has directly influenced healthcare delivery by creating a practical framework to address disparities in identification and treatment.

Key Impacts:

• Identified systemic barriers affecting approximately 1 in 5 women experiencing perinatal mental health difficulties.
• Research findings systematically integrated into the “Tackling Perinatal Mental Health Inequalities Framework” now adopted across West Yorkshire.
• Framework categorises research insights into four actionable domains: prevention/early help, identification, access, and specific groups.
• Implementation across the West Yorkshire Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism Provider Collaborative.
• Expansion to the Yorkshire and Humber Perinatal Mental Health Provider Collaborative.
• Framework now being considered for adoption by multiple Integrated Care Systems across Yorkshire and Humber.

The project exemplifies successful translation of research into practice by focusing on women from minoritised backgrounds whose voices are often unheard in service design. By engaging healthcare professionals, women from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, and voluntary sector organisations, the research produced comprehensive recommendations addressing inequalities across the entire care pathway.

The resulting framework provides healthcare commissioners and providers with concrete, locally-relevant actions to improve services in ways that specifically address identified disparities. This work is particularly significant as it directly targets intergenerational impacts of untreated perinatal mental health conditions, which can affect both maternal wellbeing and child development outcomes.