Call for British South Asian mothers for study on postnatal low mood

The study, entitled ROSHNI-2, is running for four years and is the largest of its kind to be funded by the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) programme which is run by the NHS National Institute for Health Research.

Led nationally by Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust’s Professor Nusrat Husain, the study is researching alternative culturally adapted methods of supporting South Asian women experiencing low mood and stress following childbirth.

Professor Nusrat Husain, Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist at Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust, said:

“Becoming a new mum can be stressful and it’s important to know that you are not alone. Such stress can lead to low mood which is one of the most common causes of disability in women of child bearing age and is often associated with negative outcomes for both the mother and her child.

“Up to £8.1 billion is estimated to be spent each year on perinatal mental health problems in the UK.

“The rates of postnatal low mood in the majority UK population are 10-15 percent and in British South Asian women (Pakistan, India and Bangladesh) the rates are reported to be higher.

“It is also reported that, despite similar or higher rates few South Asian mothers access appropriate treatments.

“There is now strong evidence to support the efficiency of talking treatments.

“There isn’t, however, much evidence on the use of culturally adapted talking treatments for ethic minority groups. This project seeks to determine how clinically effective and cost-effective the culturally adapted group positive health programme is for British South Asian women with low mood after child birth compared with routine treatment .

“If you’ve been feeling down lately or you are having trouble eating and sleeping then please do get in touch.”

ROSHNI-2 is being run across five centres in the UK with participants being British South Asian women aged 16 or above and having a child up to 12 months old.

The project is seeking to recruit 720 participants from GP practices and other community areas in England and Scotland.

Professor Nusrat Husain was awarded the Clinical Research Role Model of the Year award at the North West Coast Research and Innovation Awards 2017 in February for addressing inequalities in access to health care.

In November last year, he received the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Academic Researcher of the Year Award 2016 in recognition of his excellent work in improving access for marginalised communities to mental health care.

In addition to his role as Consultant Psychiatrist at Lancashire Care, Professor Husain is also the Lead for Lancashire Care’s Culture and International Mental Health research Group, and also Professor of Psychiatry and Director of Research in Global Mental Health at the University of Manchester’s Division of Psychology and Mental Health.

For further details or for an informal chat about the study, contact Farah Lunat on [email protected] or Nafeesa Bhatti on [email protected] on 01254 612508 and 07507844725.