The Section of Women’s Mental Health (SWMH) undertakes mental health services research with a primary focus on women’s mental health. The Section aims to carry out research into the needs of women with mental health problems using epidemiological and qualitative methods, and to develop and evaluate interventions to meet those needs and inform health policy.
We have a particular interest in understanding the impact of mental health problems on women and their families and have developed an instrument to measure the health and social care needs of pregnant women and mothers with severe mental illness (the CAN-M).
Howard, L. M., S. Oram, et al. (In Press). "Domestic Violence and Perinatal Mental Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis." PLoS Medicine.
Dolman, C., I. Jones, et al. (2013). "Pre-conception to parenting: a systematic review and meta-synthesis of the qualitative literature on motherhood for women with severe mental illness." Archives of Women’s Mental Health. Online First.
Jahanfar, S., P. A. Janssen, et al. (2013). "Interventions for preventing or reducing domestic violence against pregnant women." Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.
Jeffery, D., S. Clement, et al. (2013). "Discrimination in relation to parenthood reported by community psychiatric service users in the UK: a framework analysis." BMC Psychiatry 13(120).
McColl, H., M. Dhillon, et al. (2013). "A systematic review of the nutritional status of women of a childbearing age with severe mental illness." Archives of Womens Mental Health 16(1): 39-46.
Oram, S., K. Trevillion, et al. (2013). "Prevalence of experiences of domestic violence among psychiatric patients: systematic review." British Journal of Psychiatry 202(2): 94-99.
Howard, L. M., D. Bekele, R., et al. (2012). "Smoking cessation in pregnant women with mental disorders: a cohort and nested qualitative study." BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology 120(3): 362-370.
Khalifeh, H., J. Hargreaves, et al. (2012). "Intimate Partner Violence and Socioeconomic Deprivation in England: Findings From a National Cross-Sectional Survey." American Journal of Public Health 103(3): 462-472.
Oram, S., N. V. Ostrovschi, et al. (2012). "Physical health symptoms reported by trafficked women receiving post-trafficking support in Moldova: prevalence, severity and associated factors." BMC Women's Health 12(20).
Trevillion, K., S. Oram, et al. (2012). "Experiences of Domestic Violence and Mental Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis." PLoS ONE.
Collins, C. H., C. Zimmerman, et al. (2011). "Refugee, asylum seeker, immigrant women and postnatal depression: rates and risk factors." Archives of Womens Mental Health 14: 3-11.
Flach, C., M. Leese, et al. (2011). "Antenatal domestic violence, maternal mental health and subsequent child behaviour: a cohort study." BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology 118(11): 1383-1391.
Howard, L. M., C. Flach, et al. (2011). "The prevalence of suicidal ideation identified by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale in postpartum women in primary care: findings from the RESPOND trial." BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 11(57): 1-10.
Rose, D., K. Trevillion, et al. (2011). "Barriers and facilitators of disclosures of domestic violence by mental health service users: Qualitative study." British Journal of Psychiatry 198(3): 189-194.
Howard, L. M., C. Flach, et al. (2010). "Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of admissions to women’s crisis houses compared with traditional psychiatric wards: pilot patient-preference randomised controlled trial " The British Journal of Psychiatry.
Howard, L. M., K. Trevillion, et al. (2010). "Domestic Violence and Severe Psychiatric Disorders: prevalence and interventions." Psychological Medicine 40: 881-893.
Lawlor, C., S. Johnson, et al. (2010). "Ethnic variations in pathways to acute care and compulsory detention for women experiencing a mental health crisis." International Journal of Social Psychiatry 58(1): 3-15.
Woodall, A., C. Morgan, et al. (2010). "Barriers to participation in mental health research: are there specific gender, ethnicity and age related barriers?" BMC Psychiatry 10(103): 1-10.
Howard, L. M. and K. Hunt (2008). "The needs of mothers with severe mental illness: A comparison of assessments of needs by staff and patients." Archives of Womens Mental Health 11: 131-136.
Howard, L. M., K. Hunt, et al. (2008). CAN-M: Camberwell Assessment of Need for Mothers, The Royal College of Psychiatrists
Howard, L. M. (2005). "Fertility and pregnancy in women with psychotic disorders." European Journal of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology 119: 3-10.
Howard, L. M., C. Goss, et al. (2004). "The psychosocial outcome of pregnancy in women with psychotic disorders." Schizophrenia Research 71: 49-60.
Howard, L., Thornicroft, G, Salmon, M, Appleby, L (2004). "Predictors of parenting outcome in women with psychotic disorders discharged from mother and baby units." Acta Psychiatr Scand 110(5): 347-355.
Associated research programmes
Health Service & Population Research MPhil/PhD, MD(Res)
The Section collaborates with other research teams at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London and also at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University College London, University of Bristol, University of Manchester and other universities across the UK and abroad.