Project 416719

Maternal depressive symptoms increase after childbirth resulting in serious health issues for immigrant mothers affecting family functioning1. Studies show that the depression rate among immigrant women is 17.07% and in Canada 70.5% of visible minority women are a couple with children2,3. Studies says that the uncertainty in regard to accessing childcare, finding employment and experiences of isolation results in the decline of the mental health of Indian immigrant mothers (IIM) post migration4. To date, the experiences and needs of IIM are often grouped under 'South Asian Women' assuming homogeneity among neighbouring countries resulting in lack of research specific to IIM and the practice and policies addressing their concerns. This study will investigate how the intersection of gender, immigration, race, culture, religion and language are connected to the perinatal needs and experiences of IIM by adopting feminist approach to oral history methodology. This methodology is gaining popularity in health service research as it produces a deep account of experience that is lacking from traditional quantitative health research5. Findings from this study will provide important suggestions for culturally relevant maternal health practices and policies in Canada. 1Horwitz SM et al(2009) Persistence of maternal depressive symptoms throughout the early years of childhood.J Women's Health.2009;18(5):637-645 2Smith, K.L.W et al(2007) Gender, income & immigration differences in depression in Canadian urban centres.Canadian Journal of Public Health,98,149-153 3Uppal, Sharanjit(2015) Employment patterns of families with children.Insights on Canadian Society. June.Statistics Canada Catalogue no.75-006-X 4Ng-See-Quan(2005) Racialised & Immigrant Women in Cities.National Network on Environment & women's health. http://www.yorku.ca/nnewh/documents/racialEN.pdf.web 5Mays, N., Pope,C.(2000) Qualitative research in health care:Assessing quality in qualitative research. BMJ,320,50-52