Understanding occupational therapy perinatal mental health practice in mothers from ethnic minorities: A qualitative study of practitioner perceived barriers and enablers.
Kathryn Halsall, Kath Ward, Kathryn Jarvis
PMID 40337530WHAT IT FOUND
Eight UK occupational therapists working in perinatal mental health described struggling to reach ethnic minority mothers due to stigma, language barriers and a lack of culturally appropriate assessments.
They felt their own cultural knowledge was insufficient and that mandatory training did not help.
Key findings
01Participants perceived that their caseloads did not reflect the local ethnic minority population and expressed a sense of responsibility to improve access.
02Therapists reported that standardised assessments were culturally inappropriate, forcing them to adapt tools which increased workload and risked validity.
03All participants felt that mandatory equality and diversity training was inadequate for providing culturally competent care.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The sample size was small (eight participants), and it is unclear if data saturation was achieved. Recruitment was via social media, which may have biased the sample towards those active on specific platforms. All researchers were white British occupational therapists, which may have introduced observation bias. The study reports practitioner perceptions only and does not include the views of the mothers themselves.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest and no financial support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret these findings as evidence that occupational therapy interventions are ineffective for ethnic minority mothers. The study reports on practitioner perceptions of barriers to access and assessment validity, not on clinical outcomes or treatment efficacy.