Women with Disabilities: Barriers and Facilitators to Accessing ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES: BARRIERS AND FACILITATORS TO ACCESSING SERVICES DURING PREGNANCY,CHILDBIRTH AND EARLY MOTHERHOODSchool of Nursing and Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin• accommodation, which centred mainly around communication and healtheducation, where women with hearing impairment, in particular, were at agreat disadvantage• acceptability, which related to how women with sensory disabilities tendnot to feel respected or supported and have reported that some healthprofessionals fail to recognise and appreciate their needs.Facilitators suggested in the published literature to improve access for womenwith sensory impairments were slight, but some were found in relation to:• accessibility, including the use of telephone amplifiers and/or pictorialsignage, Braille, audible, visual and tactile systems in waiting rooms andinformation provided in an appropriate language and format• accommodation, focussing on the need for extended consultation timesand culturally sensitive antenatal education classes• acceptability, relating to disability awareness and training for healthprofessionals, particularly in speaking correctly for lip-readers, and in theuse of basic sign language; education of health professionals shouldperhaps incorporate education by women with disabilities themselves.It was also found that the availability of sign language interpreters in theappropriate languages is useful for women with sensory loss who are fromethnic minority groups.8.1.6. Findings in relation to women with mental health difficultiesBarriers for women with mental health difficulties appeared to be considerablygreater, or perhaps were better documented, than for women with otherdisabilities, and were found in relation to:• availability of appropriate care, as there are poor links between maternityand mental health services• accessibility, in relation to women’s mental state, as they may lackmotivation to attend clinics or may even, rarely, deny the pregnancytotally127
WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES: BARRIERS AND FACILITATORS TO ACCESSING SERVICES DURING PREGNANCY,CHILDBIRTH AND EARLY MOTHERHOODSchool of Nursing and Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin• accommodation, where the women’s considerable needs included lack ofknowledge of the existence of mental difficulties in pregnancy, and thepostnatal period and of the services available to them; lack of knowledgeof maternity care professionals about mental health issues; and poorscreening practices• acceptability, centred mainly around a reluctance to disclose their illness,and distress due to society’s, and their family’s, stigmatisation of mentalhealth problems; fear of being judged ‘a bad mother’; losing custody oftheir child; taking medication that might affect the fetus or baby whilebreast-feeding, or impair their ability to care for their children; lack of trustin health care providers and the feeling that they are continually having toprove themselves to the authorities• affordability, as many are from low income families and cannot afford topay for costs of childcare and transport, which may prevent them fromaccessing health care services.Few facilitators to improve access for women with mental health difficulties werementioned in the literature, but some were found in relation to:• availability, by providing training and education of health professionals toimprove communication between professionals in maternity services andthose in mental health care; through introducing telesupport or webbasedsupport groups; by providing designated perinatal multidisciplinaryteams in the community, including psychologists and social workers, andspecialist mother and baby psychiatric units• accessibility, in particular encouraging health professionals to developmore trust with their clients• accommodation, noting the need to provide education for women aboutmental illness and the services available to them and to provide supportgroups• acceptability, where training and education of health professionals andfamily meetings were suggested as a means to decrease the negativeattitudes encountered; through supportive partnerships between women128
Page 1 and 2:
University of DublinTrinity College
Page 3 and 4:
WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES: BARRIERS A
Page 5 and 6:
Page 7 and 8:
Page 9 and 10:
Page 11 and 12:
Page 13 and 14:
Page 15 and 16:
Page 17 and 18:
Page 19 and 20:
Page 21 and 22:
Page 23 and 24:
Page 25 and 26:
Page 27 and 28:
Page 29 and 30:
Page 31 and 32:
Page 33 and 34:
Page 35 and 36:
Page 37 and 38:
Page 39 and 40:
Page 41 and 42:
Page 43 and 44:
Page 45 and 46:
Page 47 and 48:
Page 49 and 50:
Page 51 and 52:
Page 53 and 54:
Page 55 and 56:
Page 57 and 58:
Page 59 and 60:
Page 61 and 62:
Page 63 and 64:
Page 65 and 66:
Page 67 and 68:
Page 69 and 70:
Page 71 and 72:
Page 73 and 74:
Page 75 and 76:
Page 77 and 78:
Page 79 and 80:
Page 81 and 82:
Page 83 and 84:
Page 85 and 86:
Page 87 and 88:
Page 89 and 90:
Page 91 and 92:
Page 93 and 94:
Page 95 and 96: WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES: BARRIERS A
Page 145: WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES: BARRIERS A
Page 197 and 198:
Page 199 and 200:
Page 201 and 202:
Page 203 and 204:
Page 205 and 206:
Page 207 and 208:
Page 209 and 210:
Page 211 and 212:
Page 213 and 214:
show all

Women with Disabilities: Barriers and Facilitators to Accessing ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?