Health visitors and postnatal depression

With governments all over the world looking to make cuts in expenditure health visitors can often be seen as an easy option for cuts. However, research from the universities of Leicester, Nottingham and Sheffield have found that they can play a role in preventing post-natal depression. The researchers studied more than 2,000 women; 767 received normal care from a health visitor while the rest received support from health visitors trained in assessing mental-health problems and giving psychological support. Six months after childbirth the women who had been seen by the health visitors with additional mental-health training were 30% less likely to develop depression.

You can find out more about this research by clicking on the title of this post.