Inside research

Women and mental health

by Mike Porter

Sarah K. Price, Ph.D.

Sarah K. Price, Ph.D.

Depression and low-income women

Virginia Commonwealth University School of Social Work Assistant Professor Sarah K. Price, Ph.D., has launched a community-based research project focusing on depression in low-income women who are pregnant or have recently given birth. Using a $10,000 seed grant from the VCU Institute for Women’s Health, Price’s research, in conjunction with Virginia’s Children’s Health Involving Parents, CHIP, CHIP of Greater Richmond and CHIP of Petersburg, will help the nonprofit agency improve services to low-income women.

Last summer and fall, Price conducted four focus groups with 16 women who are consumers of CHIP’s services to investigate their perceptions about depression in their lives. A second phase of the research, which finished in March, involved 24 semi-structured interviews of CHIP staff members and consumers to examine the types of services that should be offered.

“A majority of the low-income women we interviewed recognize that depression is part of their everyday lives. They attempt to just deal with it,” Price said.

Many of the consumers do not usually have health insurance and are embarrassed to seek help. But Price said they are very open about discussing their problems with people they trust, including the staff members at CHIP.

“And so what we ultimately want to do is help CHIP develop a program that is culturally competent for consumers and feasible for staff members, who aren’t mental health experts,” Price said. “We want to reach women who have fallen between the cracks to treat their depression.”

After analyzing its findings with CHIP and consumers, the research team will pursue a federal grant to translate the project from clinical research to practical application in the community.

“This is an exciting study and its application needs to happen to make treatment available in the real world,” Price said.

Pregnancy and mental health medications

Price is also working with School of Social Work Professor Kia J. Bentley, Ph.D., associate dean for strategic initiatives and director of the Ph.D. program, on a collaborative project to study psycho-pharmacology decision making with pregnant and postpartum women. This study ultimately aims at helping women make informed decisions about managing mental health issues during their pregnancies.

“Pregnant women with mental health issues face complex decisions about psychiatric medication: how do they weigh the real-life costs and benefits for themselves and their babies? How can their Ob-Gyn doctors and others help? These are the questions we hope to answer,” Price said.

Preliminary research included interviews completed in March with six Ob-Gyn professionals and six women who made decisions to take or not take their medication. The next phase of the project calls for bringing together professionals from a variety of medical and mental health fields within the university to discuss how to respond.