Category: News

Researchers from the University of Seville, Dr. Emma Motrico and predoctoral researcher Paula de Juan, and researcher Dr. Stephanie Carretero from Universidad Loyola moderated two meetings with professionals involved in assisting women during the perinatal period on November 15, 2023 and February 13, 2024. One of these focus groups (FG) took place in a room provided by the Universidad Loyola (Seville Campus) and the other group was via online.

The main objective of these GF groups was to obtain feedback on the preliminary version of the e-Perinatal app from professionals involved in the emotional or physical care of women during the perinatal period. Professional experience in healthcare practice is a key point of view that will help the research group to improve the content and design of the app.

The organization of these groups coincided with the celebration of the Conference on the promotion of perinatal mental health in pregnancy, childbirth and puerperium care in Andalusia, which was held at Universidad Loyola in collaboration with the Andalusian Association of Midwives. As a result, many professionals who attended the groups took advantage of the training.

During the course of the sessions, the researchers began by welcoming the professionals and presenting the project.

Afterwards, they were presented with some screenshots as an example of what they would find once in the app. In addition, they were able to review some examples of content that would appear in the app in different formats: text, podcast, video and infographics.

After presenting the content, they filled out a survey asking specific questions related to the design and content presented. These same questions were then discussed in greater depth during the focus group. The purpose of this analysis was to gain in-depth knowledge of the opinions of the professionals. The group discussion began, in which the participants could express their impressions on the design and content of the app based on their knowledge and training as professionals dedicated to caring for the perinatal population.

 

The groups of professionals agreed on the need to reach users through brief content and to provide reliable external resources for further study. The importance of remembering contact with professionals, encouraging them to sign up for face-to-face support resources, which are promoted by the application to combat the feeling of loneliness and to make the experience more complete with the forum.

These professionals recommended the inclusion of images representative of a diversity of family models and women’s profiles. They pointed out the importance of including in the initial assessment or app questionnaires and indicators to detect gender-based violence. They also pointed out the importance of giving strength and voice to community resources and involving professionals who care for women in the use of the app to monitor the emotional state of women.

Finally, they concluded that the e-perinatal app gives great strength to community resources and promotes emotional support, a role that midwives claim should be integrated into the routine monitoring of women in this period.

Researchers of the e-perinatal project have conducted Focus Groups (hereinafter FG) with pregnant women and mothers on October 24, 2023 and February 21, 2024. These sessions were led by project researchers Dr. Stephanie Carretero and predoctoral researcher Paula de Juan. The research team provided staff to care for the mothers’ children while they attended the sessions.

The main purpose of these groups was to know the opinion of pregnant and postpartum women (up to 1 year after delivery) about the design and content of the mobile application e-Perinatal, whose aim is the universal prevention of perinatal mental disorders. Their experiences as women who are living this stage is very valuable, as it can contribute to design an optimal mobile application for future users to benefit from it.

The session lasted about an hour and a half and took place in the meditation room of Universidad Loyola (Seville Campus).

During the course of the sessions, the researchers began by welcoming the mothers and their babies and introducing the project. Afterwards, they were presented with some screenshots as an example of what they would find once in the app. In addition, they were able to review some examples of content that would appear in the app in different formats: text, podcast, video and infographics.

After being presented with this content, they filled out a survey asking specific questions related to the design and content on display. These same questions were then deepened during the focus group. The purpose of this analysis was to gain in-depth knowledge of the opinions of the mothers and pregnant women. The group discussion began, in which the participants could express their impressions about the design and content of the app, based on their experiences as women during the perinatal period.

The session was a scenario in which the reality of work-life balance in women’s daily lives could be seen. A safe space was created between women who had never met before, in which they shared their opinions and needs based on their experiences as mothers-to-be or new mothers, with the aim of improving the app.

The pregnant women and mothers gave feedback throughout the session on several strengths they consider the e-perinatal app to have. They highlighted that the app is evidence-based and coordinated with public health services.

They also commented that the app promotes co-parenting by including suggested interventions for couples so it does not burden the pregnant mother with the burden of parenting. They highlighted app’s accompaniment after childbirth. Mothers commented that from that moment on they feel abandoned or less supported by health services. They stressed the importance of mood assessment, because they themselves are not able to identify that they are not well because they focus too much on the baby and their self-care takes a back seat.

Pregnant women and mothers valued the forum very positively, since they have the opportunity to share or ask questions to other women and create a community. In addition, the consultation channel with experts in perinatal mental health was also very positively valued.

The e-perinatal team thanked them very much for their participation and rewarded them for their collaboration in the study by presenting them with an Amazon check valued at 28 euros.

Universidad Loyola, in collaboration with the Asociación Andaluza de Matronas, hosted a significant event focusing on perinatal mental health in Andalusia. The e-Perinatal project-led event drew over a hundred professionals, discussing advancements in mental health research and practices during pregnancy and postpartum, including the development of a supportive app for new parents.

Over a hundred perinatal health care professionals, especially midwives, attended a training session on November 15 and 17 at Universidad Loyola to bring existing research on mental health in this field closer to professionals.

This activity fulfills the mission of promoting the continuous training of midwives, bringing research closer to this area, and promoting spaces for collaboration and discussion with academic experts on pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum, and more specifically, in this case, on mental health associated with this field.

The event is organized by the e-Perinatal project of  Universidad Loyola, dedicated to the prevention of mental health disorders associated with pregnancy and the first year after childbirth. Researchers at Universidad Loyola are developing a personalized app for mothers and their partners. This is a pioneering study in analyzing how to prevent depression in parents or partners and the effectiveness of such interventions in babies, bringing this knowledge to professionals and society.

The conference featured experts in this field, such as Rafael Arcángel Caparrós, a midwife and professor at the Universidad de Granada, who reflected on the prevalence and clinical course of perinatal mental health problems. The consequences of these problems, risk factors, and current tools for evaluation, detection, and diagnosis were the main topics addressed by the expert.

On the first day, Roser Palau, a researcher at Universidad Pompeu Fabra and director of a digital project to improve mothers’ mental health, DANA, gave a lecture focused on digital intoxication and the pathologization of pregnancy. The scientist outlined the most relevant aspects of the social context of searching for maternal health information today.

Lastly, the first day concluded with a presentation by Emma Motrico, a researcher at Universidad Loyola and director of the e-Perinatal project. The scientist discussed the prevention of perinatal mental health problems. She presented a series of current evidence and the advancements of the e-Perinatal project, including the development of a comprehensive support application for parents in the perinatal period.

Esther Ramirez Martos, during her intervention on traumatic processes in the perinatal period The second day was initiated by health psychologist Esther Ramírez Martos, an expert in family and perinatal therapy and a lecturer at the European Institute of Perinatal Mental Health. The intervention focused on addressing common traumatic processes such as perinatal death or the impact of fertility treatments.

The final intervention was by psychiatrist Raquel Carmona, an expert in perinatal mental health, who delved into the approach to common mental health problems in Andalusia in special Perinatal Mental Health units. The physician discussed psychopharmacology during this period and presented a practical case of referral. The expert highlighted the importance of research in the development of new specific drugs for mental health disorders associated with this stage.

The closing was conducted by Irene Agea, president of the Asociación Andaluza de Matronas, who concluded the event with a motivational speech, encouraging the continuation of this training. The president thanked Emma Motrico for her support, saying, “we have been able to express our concerns and she has made them a reality in these sessions.”

This is the 8th European Training School of Riseup-PPD organized by the COST Action RISEUP-PPD, which includes researchers from the e-perinatal project.

Throughout the week, more than twenty experts from all over Europe have gathered at Universidad Loyola to celebrate the eighth session of the Training School of the COST Action called RISEUP-PPD, Research innovation and sustainable pan-European network in peripartum depression disorder.

The training has been developed by the Working Group on Assessment Approaches and Methods in postpartum depression, whose main objective is to evaluate, develop and define standard procedures to assess women diagnosed with postpartum depression, to collect genetic and epigenetic biomarkers, to assess the impact on newborn and infant development and to assess interpersonal functioning (mother-infant dyad and father-mother-infant triad).

The aim of this Training School is to advance and exchange knowledge with health professionals on the measures used to assess the neurodevelopment of infants and children. It has also included two workshops related to ethical aspects of the evaluation of infant neurodevelopment, issues that require ethical reflection and a series of scientific methods and standards in this regard. This training was given by the researcher Susanne Uusitalo, PhD in Philosophy at the University of Turku, Finland, who is responsible for the Finnish unit of the International Chair of Bioethics and leader of the working group of this project on Ethical standards and procedures for clinical research in postpartum depression. In addition, taking advantage of her visit, the researcher has offered a seminar to all researchers at Universidad Loyola about Ethics of scientific research.

The other workshop was on Research and Treatment and Sensory Processing. For this, we hosted Helga O. Miguel, researcher in the Section of Pediatric Anesthesiology and Critical Care at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA, who focuses on behavioral and neuroscientific methods to learn more about sensation, perception and emotion in typically developing infants and children and in infants/children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and other neurodevelopmental disorders.

During the workshop, she analyzed the effects of sensorimotor processing on brain function in infants and children , focusing on touch and movement. Moreover, she explained how basic sensorimotor processes are related to developmental outcomes in typically developing infants and in infants at risk for developmental disorders, specifically autism.

The training was organized by Universidad Loyola researchers and members of the international Riseup-PPD network Emma Motrico and Rosalba Company. Dr. Emma Motrico is the Principal Investigator of the e-Perinatal Project “Universal prevention of maternal perinatal mental disorders and its implementation as normalized routine practice”.

This project, whose acronym is e-Perinatal, led by the researcher at Universidad Loyola, develops a personalized App for mothers and their partners to prevent perinatal depression and anxiety. It is also the first project that will analyze how to prevent depression in parents or partners and the effectiveness of such interventions in babies.

COST actions are networks dedicated to scientific collaboration whose objective is to strengthen scientific research in Europe by funding collaborative networks between researchers. This is why such meetings are organized between researchers and health professionals from all over Europe.