Assessment of Perinatal Depression Risk among internally displaced Yazidi Women in Iraq: a descriptive cross-sectional study

Maternal Health Experiences, Depression, and Anxiety Among Refugees and Displaced Persons in Iraq: A Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Improving maternal health is one of the World Health Organization's (WHO) key priorities, grounded in a human rights approach and linked to efforts on universal health coverage. This study aimed to assess maternal health experiences among refugees and displaced women in Iraq during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was done on 1321 women of reproductive age living in four camps supervised by the Barzani Foundation Charity in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq from June to August 2021. Researchers developed a questionnaire, and the data was collected by four staff members working in the camps through direct interviews with women. The World Health Organization Brief (WHOQOL-BREF), generalized anxiety disorder seven-item (GAD-7), and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) scales were used to measure quality of life (QoL), anxiety, and depression. The frequency, percentage, percentile, and the Chi-square test were used for data analysis.

RESULTS

 The women's mean age (SD) was 31.9 (±7.7) years. Around two-thirds of women attended the camp's healthcare facilities, and 16.4% attended the private facilities. Women mentioned the following as barriers to seeking health services: COVID-19 (387/29.3%), transportation (351/26.6%), lack of someone watching children (300/22.7%), and language (242/18.3%). The rate of high-level QoL among currently pregnant women (8/8.7%) was significantly (p = 0.002) less than the rate among nonpregnant women (297/24.2%). More than half (734/55.6%) of the women had mild depression, 247/18.7% had major depression, and 50/3.8% had severe major depression. Regarding anxiety, 580/43.9% had minimal anxiety, 467/35.4% had mild anxiety, 173/13.1% had moderate anxiety, and only 101/7.6% had severe anxiety.

CONCLUSIONS

Refugees and internal displaced women in Iraq have barriers to seeking maternal healthcare. They suffer from low QoL, depression, and anxiety. Factors affecting the quality and accessibility of maternal healthcare in the camps should be studied. Health policymakers have to consider its improvement.

Attitudes towards people with mental health illness in the Kurdistan region of Iraq: a quantitative study

People with mental health illnesses are exposed to rejection by community members because of the negative attitudes from people towards them. This study assesses undergraduates' attitudes towards people with mental health illness in the Kurdistan region of Iraq and compares their attitudes with socio-demographic characteristics such as age, gender and academic field of study. A quantitative descriptive study design has been used for this research. A multistage cluster sampling was used for data collection between May to June 2019 from a sample of 361 undergraduate students. A modified version of the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) questionnaire was used for data collection. Undergraduate students from various fields of study have had different attitudes towards people with mental illnesses. Medical students have better understanding and more positive attitudes than students of the other fields. Male students showed more negative attitudes compared to female students. Furthermore, younger students had more negative attitudes than older students.

The prevalence of psychiatric disorders among Yazidi people results from ISIS invasion and consecutive trauma: A systematic review

BACKGROUND

The Yazidi community is a Kurdish minority of the population that lives mainly in Iraq. In history, they suffered from many problems and disasters, including the most recent brutal invasion by ISIS, which significantly impacted their mental health.

AIMS

Our objective is to examine the prevalence of psychiatric disorders among Yazidi people resulting from the invasion of ISIS in 2014.

METHODS

A systematic review was performed using the PRISMA protocol. 252 publications were initially identified in PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, and Google Scholar using relevant keywords. Finally, 23 full articles were included for data extraction. The inclusion criteria were English papers that investigated Yazidi's psychiatric problems, regardless of gender, or age. However, letters to editors, systematic reviews, and studies that examine general physical health were excluded.

RESULTS

A total of 252 publications were identified; 217 were assessed for eligibility, of which 23 studies met eligibility criteria and were included in the present systematic review. According to the findings, the Yazidi people were severely affected by persecution, forced migration, massacres, and ISIS violence in the recent period and suffered from a variety of mental and psychiatric problems. The most prevalent mental disorders among Yazidi people of all ages and sexes are PTSD, depression, and anxiety disorders.

CONCLUSION

This study indicates that the Yazidi minority is a traumatized population. According to the results of the current systematic review, the Yazidi have suffered from a variety of mental and psychological disorders, most commonly PTSD, depression, and anxiety. Eventually, addressing these challenges should be prioritized to improve the quality of life of Yazidis through implications for intervention.

Dysphoric milk ejection reflex (D-MER) and its implications for mental health nursing

Dysphoric milk ejection reflect (D-MER) is a dysphoria which women may experience within seconds of commencing breastfeeding. It is only recently gaining recognition in the academic literature and may have important implications for breastfeeding continuation, differential diagnosis and perinatal mental health. This perspective piece introduces the topic, sets out the physiological processes underpinning the experience and outlines why increased awareness of D-MER is important for the profession of mental health nursing.