Shelby Hopson
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Research Mentor(s): Maria Muzik
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Psychiatry / Medicine
Program:
Authors: Shelby Hopson, Reni Forer, Rea Hajredini, Akshaya Kannikeswaran, Travis Wigstrom, Angela Johnson, Gwenyth Lee, Maria Muzik, Itziar Familiar Lopez
Session: Session 6: 3:40 pm – 4:30 pm
Poster: 37
Abstract
Women living in Ecuador face various challenges when they take on motherhood, many of which result from the environment around them and lead to an increase in mental health issues. Although the population is aware of these problems, a lack of resources has prevented them from fixing them or analyzing what the problems stem from. This research seeks to understand what specific social issues in Ecuador are most impactful on the mental health of mothers through direct questioning of the mothers and assorted healthcare workers in Ecuador in order to get to the root of these recognized issues. The transcripts of these interviews were divided among the research team to be coded for salient patterns. Working in pairs, code sheets were developed and merged to create a master code sheet encompassing the major themes found in the forty transcripts. From the transcripts, ten main themes were chosen to characterize motherhood and mental health in Ecuador. These themes include strong family values, feelings of suffering, mental health, religious beliefs and influence, high value on formal education, pregnancy health challenges, drug and alcohol involvement, poverty, contraception, and teen pregnancy. These results suggest a strong correlation between the variety of social and community issues in Ecuador with the high rates of maternal depression, which aligns with the original project hypothesis. We plan to use these themes to design an intervention program for the Esmeraldas region of Ecuador to reduce these social issues and promote mental health awareness. The general citizens and especially the mothers who live in the Esmeraldas region of Ecuador benefit from this research as it intends to lead to programs in Ecuador that promote the importance and prevalence of mental healthcare.
