“It’s an honour to be part of the team that was awarded a Canadian Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarship for Advanced Scholars,” says David Arthur, dean of the School of Nursing and Midwifery (SONAM) in Pakistan.
Partnering with the University of Calgary, this award will give several nursing scholars from SONAM the chance to travel and participate in perinatal mental health research with colleagues from Canada and East Africa. In turn, a Canadian post-doctoral scholar will be supported to travel to Karachi and work with SONAM.
Why should we be looking at pregnancy, birth and mental health? “The incidence of post natal depression worldwide is around 12 per cent but recent research in the countries where the School leads nursing education, in Pakistan and East Africa, shows that the incidence is much higher, possibly up to 20 to 30 per cent,” explains Dr Arthur.
The indications are that this is due to the stress involved in living in low to middle income countries and linked to physical, nutritional and psychosocial variables.
Worse the effects of this stress are intergenerational. In other words, the children of women who experience stress and depression in child birth are more likely to develop non-communicable disorders such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes as adults, and pass this on to subsequent generations.
The School, as a leader in nursing education in Pakistan and East Africa, is committed to developing accurate tools to detect and predict post natal depression and related disorders which occur in the post natal period and far beyond. With these tools, midwife and nurse-initiated culturally sensitive therapies for depression can be developed, and with evidence-based research incorporated into the nursing curricula and daily practice.
Instrumental in this partnership is Dr Shahirose Premji, part of the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Calgary and an alumnus, who has developed a strong international reputation as a clinical researcher in perinatal mental health. Working with her and other partners from Canada “will help build a strong base for perinatal mental health research in SONAM and an evidence-informed health service for women in our region,” states Dr Arthur.
“It’s an honour to be part of the team that was awarded a Canadian Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarship for Advanced Scholars,” says David Arthur, dean of the School of Nursing and Midwifery (SONAM) in Pakistan.
Partnering with the University of Calgary, this award will give several nursing scholars from SONAM the chance to travel and participate in perinatal mental health research with colleagues from Canada and East Africa. In turn, a Canadian post-doctoral scholar will be supported to travel to Karachi and work with SONAM.
Why should we be looking at pregnancy, birth and mental health? “The incidence of post natal depression worldwide is around 12 per cent but recent research in the countries where the School leads nursing education, in Pakistan and East Africa, shows that the incidence is much higher, possibly up to 20 to 30 per cent,” explains Dr Arthur.
The indications are that this is due to the stress involved in living in low to middle income countries and linked to physical, nutritional and psychosocial variables.
Worse the effects of this stress are intergenerational. In other words, the children of women who experience stress and depression in child birth are more likely to develop non-communicable disorders such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes as adults, and pass this on to subsequent generations.
The School, as a leader in nursing education in Pakistan and East Africa, is committed to developing accurate tools to detect and predict post natal depression and related disorders which occur in the post natal period and far beyond. With these tools, midwife and nurse-initiated culturally sensitive therapies for depression can be developed, and with evidence-based research incorporated into the nursing curricula and daily practice.
Instrumental in this partnership is Dr Shahirose Premji, part of the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Calgary and an alumnus, who has developed a strong international reputation as a clinical researcher in perinatal mental health. Working with her and other partners from Canada “will help build a strong base for perinatal mental health research in SONAM and an evidence-informed health service for women in our region,” states Dr Arthur.