Evaluation of the Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Programme
Study I: Analysis of Existing Data
An Official Statistics publication for Scotland
- Published
- 30 July 2024 (Latest release)
- Type
- Statistical report
- Author
- Public Health Scotland
- Mental health
This publication by Public Health Scotland (PHS) explores what data is available, related to the mental health service usage of mothers in Scotland before and during the perinatal period, to support the overall Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Programme evaluation being carried out by PHS.
Main points
Analysis of data related to the mental health service usage of mothers in Scotland before and during the perinatal period drew the following conclusions:
- Data held by PHS gives a partial picture of mental health issues experienced by mothers before and during the perinatal period.
- Mothers with a history of previous mental health service usage are more likely to access mental health services during the perinatal period than those with no prior history, and this holds true for all services analysed.
- Mothers with previous contact with mental health services were more likely to live in a SIMD 1 (most deprived) data zone and less likely to live in a SIMD 5 (least deprived) data zone than mothers with no previous contact with mental health services.
- Mothers with previous mental health service contact had higher proportions in the 18 to24- and 25 to 29-year-old age groups, and lower proportions in the 30 to 34- and 35 to 40-year-old age groups than mothers with no previous contact with mental health services.
| Year of Birth | Individuals giving birth | Previous Mental Health contact (any service) |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 50,118 | 24.0% |
| 2019 | 48,273 | 24.4% |
| 2020 | 46,509 | 25.3% |
| 2021 | 46,833 | 24.7% |
| 2022 | 45,150 | 25.3% |
Background
The Perinatal and Infant Mental Health (PIMH) Programme Board was established in April 2019 to implement the commitments to improving perinatal and infant mental health set out in the 2018/19 Programme for Government and Better Mental Health in Scotland.
NHS Health Scotland, now Public Health Scotland (PHS), was asked by the Scottish Government to undertake an Evaluability Assessment of the Perinatal and Infant Mental Health programme. This was published in 2020. Following this, the Scottish Government asked Public Health Scotland to carry out an evaluation of this investment. This evaluation was conducted between 2022 and 2024
The Evaluability Assessment established four main objectives and a series of questions for the evaluation. There are 6 studies being carried out to address these questions, of which this report is one. Further details of each of the studies can be found on the Public Health Scotland website.
Further information
This publication is a stand-alone project and further releases are not planned at this time.
General enquiries
If you have an enquiry relating to this publication, please contact Andrew Murray at phs.mentalhealthanalytics@phs.scot.
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If you have a media enquiry relating to this publication, please contact the Communications and Engagement team.
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Older versions of this publication
Versions of this publication released before 16 March 2020 may be found on the Data and Intelligence, Health Protection Scotland or Improving Health websites.