‘Having a Quiet Word’: Yarning with Aboriginal Women in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia about Mental Health and Mental Health Screening during the Perinatal Period
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Setting the Scene
2.2. Research Approach: Yarning as Methodology
2.3. Recruitment
2.4. Interview Process
2.5. Interview Analysis
2.6. Ethics
3. Results
3.1. Theme One: A lived Experience
‘I was on my own for my pregnancy, I was excited but scared too you know. Her dad [baby’s dad] was in jail for drink driving. I stopped drinking for her but it was still hard, my dad and I don’t talk and my mother passed. I was sometimes stressing out’.(Participant 002)
‘I never heard anyone say they are depressed, I hear them say they are ‘stressing out’, ‘going mad’. Sometimes we might use language words, but those are the ones mostly. We find it hard to talk about pain, I don’t know why, I think as Aboriginal people we like to laugh and talk for the good times but now everyone has a story of pain and we don’t know how to talk [about it]’.(Participant 010)
3.2. Theme Two: Connectedness and Support
‘Since my sister went through this [perinatal depression] we are all a lot more aware. We don’t, like, bang on about it, but I see they [partner and mother] ask me things in a way we never talked about before…. I feel supported, I think whatever happens I will be ok’.(Participant 008)
‘My midwife is in [name of Pilbara town] but she is gone now. She was really good to me. I still call her. She made me feel it is ok to talk even when I didn’t know what I was going to say’.(Participant 001)
‘My children saw all that violence with their father and then when my younger brother died [by suicide] the lights went out for me. I was pregnant and I took myself in to see the [name of service]. No one [in the participant’s family] was talking and I was starting to go mad. My other brothers, everyone is so broken from it and sometimes on the garri [alcohol] they might talk but it turns sour. So I tried it. The whitefella way [laughs]. It was alright, I was a bit thing [shy] but the lady was kind to me and, and, it was good to talk’.(Participant 011)
‘If you want to push through the shame [of going to counselling] you can… I learnt about myself. I got my kids back, I said fuck you to violent relationships. I wasn’t going to be like my mum and spent 20 years getting belted. I wanted to nurture my kids. I don’t think I had that nurture ‘.(Participant 003)
‘I need something else, some other way to heal. Something with my old people and being on my ancestors land. The drugs and the violence get me down. I think the counsellor was good but I don’t know’…(Participant 014)
3.3. Theme Three: Yarning Safely
‘Clinics need to talk these things through [KMMS Part 2], they really do, but they need to build up the friendship and trust… We are coping with so much loss. So much sadness…. You have to be really clear with the mum that this is for mum to help her stay strong and look after bub. It is not for DCP [Department of Child Protection] or anyone else, only the midwife and maybe a doctor’.(Participant 007)
‘Talking about the protective stuff, right, the stuff that keep us going, keeps us strong, that’s something. We are living this life the best way we can and for us to hear that. For clinic, my midwife to hear that. Now that is a powerful thing’.(Participant 009)
‘You talk about things because they are important to talk about not cause they happened one week ago! It is a real whitefella way to start. It’s like you’re in or you’re out. You see that hey? Like what happens if it was a bit longer, then the lady might think oh no, it’s not important I won’t talk about that’.(Participant 015)
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Step | Description |
---|---|
1 | Introduction and brokerage of the researcher in the participant’s space |
2 | Deconstructing the research agenda |
3 | Establishing informed consent |
4 | The research topic yarn |
5 | Reviewing the yarn and re-confirming permission for future use of data |
6 | Reflecting, coding and analysis |
7 | Presentation of results to participants, key Aboriginal stakeholders and the Pilbara Aboriginal Health Planning Forum for review, feedback and revision |
8 | Publication of results and dissemination back to key stakeholders and participants |
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Share and Cite
Carlin, E.; Atkinson, D.; Marley, J.V. ‘Having a Quiet Word’: Yarning with Aboriginal Women in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia about Mental Health and Mental Health Screening during the Perinatal Period. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16, 4253. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16214253
Carlin E, Atkinson D, Marley JV. ‘Having a Quiet Word’: Yarning with Aboriginal Women in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia about Mental Health and Mental Health Screening during the Perinatal Period. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2019; 16(21):4253. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16214253
Chicago/Turabian StyleCarlin, Emma, David Atkinson, and Julia V Marley. 2019. "‘Having a Quiet Word’: Yarning with Aboriginal Women in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia about Mental Health and Mental Health Screening during the Perinatal Period" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 16, no. 21: 4253. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16214253