A collaborative team of Western Sydney University academic and professional staff from the School of Health Sciences, School of Nursing and Midwifery, School of Humanities and Communication Arts, Translational Health Research Institute, The Centre for Transforming Early Education and Child Health (TeEACH) and The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development have partnered with Western Sydney Local Health District’s Perinatal Child Youth Mental Health Service (PCYMHS) and a number of other government and community-based organisations to deliver a project funded by the Ministry of Health focusing on the Perinatal Mental Health and Wellbeing Program’s Emerging Priorities. The project is titled ‘Young Well Beings – Improving young mothers’ mental health literacy through the development of a digital learning resource co-designed with consumers and persons with lived experience’.
The overall aim of the project is to develop, from the ground-up, a digital resource that supports young mums’ perinatal journey, as a preventative tool to support their mental wellbeing. The PhD student will be immersed within the project and will have the opportunity to explore research questions that arise from the process of development and implementation of this resource, including, but not limited to, the following:
1) What are the experiences, needs and expectations of young mothers in relation to their mental health and wellbeing during the perinatal period, and how they differ across different socio-cultural groups?
2) What are the perceptions of stakeholders regarding the needs of young mothers and how they might use and benefit from mental health literacy resources?
3) What are the enablers and challenges associated with the development of a co-designed, lived experience-informed learning resource targeted at young mothers?
4) How effective is a co-designed digital resource in supporting young mothers’ wellbeing?
The PhD project is expected to use a qualitative approach, integrating a range of data collection methods.
The project provides an exciting opportunity for the candidate to work in collaboration with a range of government and non-government organisations in the mental health and perinatal fields, as well as with a multi-disciplinary team of world-renowned academics.