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Background: About one in five of women aged between 15 and 49 years old experience a mental disorder in antepartum and postpartum period in developing countries where routine screening and treatment are sometimes not prioritized due to other competing health issues needing urgent attention. The prevalence of mental health disorders is even higher among pregnant adolescents who face constant stigmatization from society and peers. Methods. This paper reports on an innovative toolkit for maternal mental health promotion among pregnant and postpartum (2 years post-delivery) adolescent girls. The toolkit is intended to provide pregnant and postpartum adolescent girls with the knowledge, problem-solving skills, coping mechanisms and confidence they need to protect their mental health during pregnancy and early motherhood. The toolkit was co-created with 50 pregnant and postpartum adolescent girls living in urban poor settings in Nairobi, in a 3-step approach, and tested through a field experimentation with 130 pregnant and postpartum adolescent girls living the slums. We also report on results from qualitative interviews conducted post-experiment to assess views and satisfaction with the toolkit package, and experiences and preferences with the two delivery modes used for delivering the toolkit package (face-to-face and through phones). Results: The toolkit development process provided a critical opportunity for adolescent girls to engage on maternal mental health issues and reflect on their lived experiences, thus improving on their mental health awareness. Preliminary qualitative insights from adolescent girls indicate that the toolkit sessions were effective in improving overall wellbeing. Conclusion: Large scale implementation of maternal mental health interventions is needed the improve health and wellbeing of adolescent mothers living in poor environments across the sub-Saharan African region. Our toolkit provides an adolescent-friendly tool to be used for such interventions. |
