Living with perinatal mental illness in the UK as a migrant woman from Sub-Saharan Africa: a phenomenological study

Background: Perinatal mental illness can be challenging due the seriousness of the illness, anticipated risk to a mother, baby, family, and society. Despite the UK’s health and social care institutions’ efforts to raise awareness, the Sub-Saharan African migrant women experience challenges such as delay accessing services, mental health deterioration, formal detention, and temporary mother- baby separation.

This qualitative study’s aim was to understand lived experiences of those Sub-Saharan African migrant women who used the UK’s perinatal mental health services. The objectives were: i) to explore the lived experiences of perinatal mental illness from Sub-Saharan African Migrant Women ii) to understand how differences in ethnic background and culture shape migrant women’s understanding of perinatal mental illness: iii) to understand women’s level of satisfaction with the perinatal mental health services: iv) to understand barriers encountered to access these services.

Eleven research participants were interviewed using zoom or telephone to collect data and verbatim transcribing followed each interview. Five steps Giorgi’s phenomenological data analysis method was followed. The themes identified illuminated the lived experiences of i) being an African woman: ii) perinatal mental illness, and services: iii) racism: iv) physical health during the perinatal period. Sub-Saharan African migrant women’s reluctance to access services was contributed by a lack of the illness awareness, available services, the services’ set up, structural and institutional racism, cultural barriers, influence of culture, and healthcare professionals limited cultural awareness. This study’s contributions to knowledge includes more understanding of cultural experiences and mental health which are less documented in research field and less understood by professionals and less included in the policies but well informed by CRT. This is further evidence to suggest that Sub-Saharan African migrant women’s experiences of care in perinatal mental health services are not satisfactory and it is below professionals and policies expectations as they contribute to their reluctance. Another contribution is in terms of positionality and decolonisation of literature as a black male African migrant healthcare professional researching black Sub-Saharan African migrant women with lived experiences of perinatal mental health problems and services.