New parents facing emotional difficulties, midwives say

A good number of new parents were encountering emotional difficulties but Malta offered them little support on how to deal with the life-changing experience, Midwives' Association president Rita Borg Xuereb said.

"There is too little advice about the pitfalls that could be experienced and insufficient sources of immediate help if the couple needs reassurance and guidance," she said.

Ms Borg Xuereb, who is working on a Ph.D. on the transition to parenthood and the emotional well-being of first-time parents, said preliminary data emerging from her studies indicated that there was a good percentage of Maltese couples who were encountering challenges.

She pointed out that more in-depth analysis of the data was needed to get a better pulse of the situation. Her study involves the participation of 265 couples and data collection should be completed by August.

However, in the meantime, she wanted to highlight the dire need for support and preparation for such couples who were assuming lifelong responsibility of a new individual.

"Most couples assume this responsibility with joy and enthusiasm. However, many others find difficulty in adjusting to parenthood, and some try to hide behind a smile because society does not expect a woman to feel distressed, imagine a man," she said.

Ms Borg Xuereb, who is also a university lecturer, was speaking at a half-day seminar at Mater Dei Hospital to mark the International Day of the Midwife.

Organised by the Midwives' Association Malta, the seminar, entitled The Emotional Well-being During Pregnancy And Following Birth, was opened by Clyde Puli, Nationalist MP and chairman of Parliament's Social Affairs Committee.

Literature reviews and studies on the transition to parenthood were fairly consistent in suggesting that there was a drop in marital quality in about 40 to 70 per cent of couples.

It was not all doom and gloom and another longitudinal study highlighted that 30 per cent of parents identified no change and 19 per cent actually reported greater closeness, less conflict and an improvement in communication.

"Although we need to keep in mind the fact that the birth experience can be a positive one and can actually alleviate and prevent depression, we cannot undermine the possibility of emotional problems occurring during the transition to parenthood," Ms Borg Xuereb said.

Midwives, she said, were in a position to provide support and education to the emerging new family, but health services had to be planned and provided around the individual needs of the couple.

"Health professionals have a responsibility to ensure that the parents' voice is not only heard but also addressed by the health and social systems of the country," she concluded.

Another spokesman at the seminar was Paul Micallef, psychologist and staff trainer at St Luke's and Mount Carmel hospitals, who tackled the emotional well-being of the unborn child.

"When I talk to parents expecting their first child, I feel like such a spoilsport. They are full of joyous expectations and are hardly thinking of what can go wrong. If you set out to achieve holistic health and happiness in life, then keep this mind, because the going will get tough," he said.

He called on parents to be fully ware of the fact that they were their children's role model and so children would be emulating everything.

Dr Micallef advised expecting parents to use assertive communication and avoid assumptions, while actively expressing love and acceptance.

The seminar tackled numerous other issues from relaxation techniques, to high-risk pregnancy, treating antenatal and postnatal depression, and the importance of giving couples informed choices, among others.

The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses took the opportunity to call on the authorities to truly take all the steps necessary to allow midwives to do their job in the most autonomous way and in an adequate environment.

In said that, unfortunately, the rate of midwives suffering from burnout was on the increase, as a result of a lack of proper policies and structures at their place of work.

"Despite the fact that midwives are professionals in their own right and have a warrant to practice, the bureaucratic systems of hospitals hinder them from taking certain decisions without the approval of other professionals. This remains far from the respect and autonomy other midwives enjoy in other EU countries," the union said.

It said it was also concerned by the fact that the curriculum of student midwives lacked certain modules that tackled treatment in the community.

"This is also reflecting on qualified midwives who are not being given the space to practise their profession outside the hospital, due to the fact that Malta associates their role solely with pregnancy," it continued.

The union said that in the year it was celebrating its 10th anniversary, its affiliation with the European Midwives Association had been accepted.