Developing a Community Singing-Based Intervention for Perinatal Mental Health in The Gambia
Lead Research Organisation:
Goldsmiths University of London
Abstract
Perinatal mental health problems affect up to 1 in 5 women worldwide. Stress, anxiety and depression in pregnancy affects not only the mother but can also have long-term adverse effects on her child, via biological mechanisms in utero. Postnatal depression can reduce her ability to provide sensitive and responsive caregiving, and this can also impair child development. Mental health problems in the perinatal period are a particular challenge in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) where they can be at least twice as frequent as in higher income countries. Our geographical context for this work will be The Gambia, West Africa, where mental health services are minimal, services for perinatal mental health are non-existent and high levels of stigma associated with mental health issues, as well as specific local attitudes and beliefs, impede recognition and prevent help-seeking behaviour. It is thus of high priority to develop new low-cost, low-resource, non-stigmatising and culturally appropriate approaches to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression perinatally, for the benefit of both mother and child.
The current project suggests that the creative arts - in particular group singing - could show special promise in alleviating perinatal mental distress in The Gambia. In developed countries, such as the UK and the USA, singing in groups has been shown to be a powerful modulator of mood and emotion, evoking positive effects on mental health, well-being and social affiliation via well-attested mechanisms involving synchrony, entrainment and hormonal effects. Music-centred approaches may be particularly fruitful to apply in The Gambia, since there already exist a range of musical practices that specifically engage pregnant women and new mothers. For instance, infant naming ceremonies occur 7 days after birth and are musical celebrations to recognise the new mother and her family, and performances by Kanyeleng groups are closely associated with pregnancy and motherhood. These pre-existing cultural and creative practices provide an excellent context from which to explore, co-design and evaluate culturally-situated music-centred interventions that aim to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression perinatally and facilitate mother-infant caregiving.
PI Stewart and Co-Is Glover, Ramchandani and Cross, bring world-leading expertise across the domains of music and mental health, particularly perinatal mental health, while Co-I Cornelius brings world-leading expertise in the planning, development and analysis of clinical trials. International Co-I McConnell is a leading expert on the actual, as well as the potential roles of music in health contexts in The Gambia, where she has several years of experience in collaborative fieldwork. Within The Gambia we will work with collaborator Buba Darboe at the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MOH&SW), who brings understanding of existing health services and access to a network of primary healthcare workers throughout the country, and collaborator Hassoum Ceesay at the National Centre for Arts and Culture (NCAC), who brings understanding of the diversity of local musical practices and the meanings attached to them. We will employ two local graduate-level research assistants, one hosted at each site.
The current project suggests that the creative arts - in particular group singing - could show special promise in alleviating perinatal mental distress in The Gambia. In developed countries, such as the UK and the USA, singing in groups has been shown to be a powerful modulator of mood and emotion, evoking positive effects on mental health, well-being and social affiliation via well-attested mechanisms involving synchrony, entrainment and hormonal effects. Music-centred approaches may be particularly fruitful to apply in The Gambia, since there already exist a range of musical practices that specifically engage pregnant women and new mothers. For instance, infant naming ceremonies occur 7 days after birth and are musical celebrations to recognise the new mother and her family, and performances by Kanyeleng groups are closely associated with pregnancy and motherhood. These pre-existing cultural and creative practices provide an excellent context from which to explore, co-design and evaluate culturally-situated music-centred interventions that aim to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression perinatally and facilitate mother-infant caregiving.
PI Stewart and Co-Is Glover, Ramchandani and Cross, bring world-leading expertise across the domains of music and mental health, particularly perinatal mental health, while Co-I Cornelius brings world-leading expertise in the planning, development and analysis of clinical trials. International Co-I McConnell is a leading expert on the actual, as well as the potential roles of music in health contexts in The Gambia, where she has several years of experience in collaborative fieldwork. Within The Gambia we will work with collaborator Buba Darboe at the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MOH&SW), who brings understanding of existing health services and access to a network of primary healthcare workers throughout the country, and collaborator Hassoum Ceesay at the National Centre for Arts and Culture (NCAC), who brings understanding of the diversity of local musical practices and the meanings attached to them. We will employ two local graduate-level research assistants, one hosted at each site.
Planned Impact
This project aims to explore how music-based approaches can be used to support women's mental health during pregnancy and after birth in The Gambia. Focus groups and interview approaches, along with observations and recordings from the national archives, will delineate the existing roles of music, particularly singing, during pregnancy and birth in The Gambia, providing a foundation from which to design and evaluate culturally-appropriate interventions to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression and facilitate mother-infant caregiving. In parallel, we will develop and embed new curricula on perinatal mental health at the local medical and nursing schools.
The potential beneficiaries of this project are:
Pregnant women and new mothers:
Even though mental distress during pregnancy and after birth will affect 1 in 5 women, the absence of mental health services in The Gambia, coupled with the stigma associated with mental illness in general, results in high levels of unmet need in this group. The development of a low-cost, low-resource intervention, that is rooted in local health and cultural practices, will address this unmet need, alleviating symptoms of anxiety and depression before and after birth, benefitting the women, their families and society at large.
Infants and children:
Early child development is known to be significantly impacted by a woman's mental state during pregnancy and immediately after birth. Supporting women in the perinatal period, both in terms of their mental health and their caregiving capacities will provide strong foundations for their infants' cognitive and socio-emotional development.
Health professionals in The Gambia:
The new curricula that we will establish at the medical and nursing schools in The Gambia will provide the skills and knowledge needed in local communities to recognise and tackle mental health challenges in the perinatal period, despite the current barriers to tackling these issues (high levels of stigma, specific beliefs and attitudes around mental illness, lack of appropriate tools for the detection and evaluation of mental health issues).
Partner organisations: Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MOH&SW) and National Centre for Arts and Culture (NCAC):
Our partner organisations bring a wealth of local expertise and infrastructure in biomedical research, health and social policy and arts and culture. The project, which cuts across each of these areas, will provide a unique opportunity for these organisations to work with each other, as well as with world-leaders in music and mental health to address a shared goal, in developing sustainable approaches for promoting mental health and wellbeing in The Gambia. The contributions we will make to the National Centre for Arts and Culture, in terms of new audio and video material from the exploratory qualitative work around existing roles of music in the perinatal period, will support the NCAC in their important goal to preserve and disseminate traditional music practices and knowledge.
Health organisations in the UK:
Low-cost, low-resource interventions for perinatal mental health also have applicability in higher income countries such as the UK, where there is an increasing need to provide innovative healthcare with limited resources. The co-development, reciprocal learning and knowledge sharing from current project will provide a model for UK-based health organisations and policymakers to consider the impact of creative and arts-based activities on health, well-being and social cohesion.
The potential beneficiaries of this project are:
Pregnant women and new mothers:
Even though mental distress during pregnancy and after birth will affect 1 in 5 women, the absence of mental health services in The Gambia, coupled with the stigma associated with mental illness in general, results in high levels of unmet need in this group. The development of a low-cost, low-resource intervention, that is rooted in local health and cultural practices, will address this unmet need, alleviating symptoms of anxiety and depression before and after birth, benefitting the women, their families and society at large.
Infants and children:
Early child development is known to be significantly impacted by a woman's mental state during pregnancy and immediately after birth. Supporting women in the perinatal period, both in terms of their mental health and their caregiving capacities will provide strong foundations for their infants' cognitive and socio-emotional development.
Health professionals in The Gambia:
The new curricula that we will establish at the medical and nursing schools in The Gambia will provide the skills and knowledge needed in local communities to recognise and tackle mental health challenges in the perinatal period, despite the current barriers to tackling these issues (high levels of stigma, specific beliefs and attitudes around mental illness, lack of appropriate tools for the detection and evaluation of mental health issues).
Partner organisations: Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MOH&SW) and National Centre for Arts and Culture (NCAC):
Our partner organisations bring a wealth of local expertise and infrastructure in biomedical research, health and social policy and arts and culture. The project, which cuts across each of these areas, will provide a unique opportunity for these organisations to work with each other, as well as with world-leaders in music and mental health to address a shared goal, in developing sustainable approaches for promoting mental health and wellbeing in The Gambia. The contributions we will make to the National Centre for Arts and Culture, in terms of new audio and video material from the exploratory qualitative work around existing roles of music in the perinatal period, will support the NCAC in their important goal to preserve and disseminate traditional music practices and knowledge.
Health organisations in the UK:
Low-cost, low-resource interventions for perinatal mental health also have applicability in higher income countries such as the UK, where there is an increasing need to provide innovative healthcare with limited resources. The co-development, reciprocal learning and knowledge sharing from current project will provide a model for UK-based health organisations and policymakers to consider the impact of creative and arts-based activities on health, well-being and social cohesion.
People |
ORCID iD |
Publications
Dingle G
(2019)
An Agenda for Best Practice Research on Group Singing, Health, and Well-Being
in Music & Science
Sanfilippo KRM
(2021)
How music may support perinatal mental health: an overview.
in Archives of women's mental health
Sanfilippo KRM
(2023)
The experience of maternal mental distress in The Gambia: A qualitative study identifying idioms of distress, perceptions of contributing factors and the supporting role of existing cultural practices.
in PLOS global public health
Sanfilippo KRM
(2019)
A study protocol for testing the feasibility of a randomised stepped wedge cluster design to investigate a Community Health Intervention through Musical Engagement (CHIME) for perinatal mental health in The Gambia.
in Pilot and feasibility studies
Sanfilippo KRM
(2023)
Expression of antenatal symptoms of common mental disorders in The Gambia and the UK: a cross-sectional comparison study.
in BMJ open
Stewart L
(2022)
Social singing, culture and health: interdisciplinary insights from the CHIME project for perinatal mental health in The Gambia.
in Health promotion international
Title | CHIME South Africa songs |
Description | This is a youtube channel of all the songs created by the women's groups (Mentor Mothers) we worked with as part of CHIME South Africa. These songs were developed by women in the Eastern Cape around themes of perinatal mental health. |
Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
Year Produced | 2022 |
Impact | These songs are still being used by the Mentor Mothers as part of their work in the Eastern Cape. A Joburg-based music-making NGO heard about CHIME and came to record the mentor mothers from the CHIME workshop for a song they had developed on women's empowerment. The One to One musicians were delighted to collaborate and this show the wider impact of the work outside of the Eastern Cape. |
URL | https://www.chimeproject.com/developing-chime-in-south-africa |
Description | - We developed a broad research partnership with civic, cultural and government stakeholders - We conducted detailed qualitative work to understand a) how maternal mental distress can manifest in the Gambia, as well as commonly used terms that describe this and b) the ways in which music and musical activities already intersect with women's mental and reproductive health - We worked with local women's groups to codevelop a culturally embedded intervention that utilizes participatory musical activities to a) lift mood, b) forge social connections and c) convey information about how to cope with the physical and psychological challenges of pregnancy - We ran a feasibility/ pilot trial of the intervention in 4 regions (both Wolof and Mandinka communities) - We collected baseline demographic information, as well as scores on two commonly used measures of common mental disorder symptoms (EPDS and SRQ20). We showed that these measures differ in their sensitivity to detect symptoms, predominantly due to the fact that EPDS explicitly excludes somatic (bodily) symptoms. - We laid foundations for a) expanding the work within the Gambia with a fully powered RCT as well as b) adapting the CHIME intervention for different contexts in South Africa, Australia, India and Lewisham. |
Exploitation Route | We have received NIHR funding (embargoed) to develop this work and build capacity in three settings over the next four years. The settings are: Gambia (where we will conduct an RCT); South Africa (where we will codevelop CHIME for an urban context) and Lesotho (where we will scope out the opportunities). In addition, we have begin a collaboration with a team at NIMHANS (Bangalore, India) to understand the potential of CHIME to be developed there. Finally, we are using some of the learning from the GCRF project in a codevelopment project with Yaram Arts and Lewisham Maternity Voice Partnerships to create a version tailored to Black African and Afrocaribbean and Mixed Heritage perinatal women in Lewisham. |
Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy Healthcare Culture Heritage Museums and Collections |
URL | http://www.chimeproject.com |
Description | The music and perinatal mental health work I conducted in Gambia resulted in significant alleviation of mental distress for those women receiving the intervention (Sanfilippo et al., 2020). Their comments illustrate the impact of the intervention not only for themselves but also for those in their communities who benefitted from learning about their experiences, second hand. For instance, as quoted in Sanfilippo et al., 2020, one participant said : I am pleased about the programme, because I isolated myself before, and brought a lot thinking on my side. But when I took part in this programme I now go out and mingle with the people to have a chat and my mind has been steady now In addition, a Wellcome Trust funded public engagement project I led, involving the commissioning of new songs by prominent Gambian musician Jaliba Kuyateh, to communicate the importance of husband support in pregnancy has begun to change the culture around the involvement of men at this time (source: head of Health Communication, Buba Darboe, UNICEF). The research also led us to enable and support the establishment of the Gambian Alliance for Maternal Mental Health, a group of stakeholders across society which advocates for sustainable solutions to support maternal mental health in a context where there are just 2 psychiatrists in a country of 2 million. |
First Year Of Impact | 2022 |
Sector | Healthcare |
Impact Types | Societal |
Description | Creation of the Maternal Mental Health Alliance The Gambia |
Geographic Reach | Africa |
Policy Influence Type | Membership of a guideline committee |
URL | https://aammh.org/gambia/ |
Description | Community Health Interventions through Musical Engagement for Perinatal Mental Health |
Amount | £99,437 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ES/V010158/1 |
Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2020 |
End | 09/2021 |
Description | Creatively Minded and Ethnically Diverse |
Amount | £50,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | 20220721 |
Organisation | Baring Foundation |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2023 |
End | 01/2025 |
Description | Gender Institute Research Funding for Working Groups |
Amount | £13,600 (GBP) |
Organisation | Australian National University (ANU) |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | Australia |
Start | 01/2023 |
End | 01/2025 |
Description | Goldsmiths University Internal Funding: Global Challenges Research Fund |
Amount | £15,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Goldsmiths, University of London |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2020 |
End | 06/2020 |
Description | Goldsmiths University Strategic Research Fund |
Amount | £17,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Goldsmiths, University of London |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2022 |
End | 09/2022 |
Description | NIHR Global Health Research Groups |
Amount | £2,700,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | Currently Embargoed |
Organisation | National Institute for Health Research |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 06/2024 |
End | 07/2028 |
Description | Promoting Awareness of Perinatal Depression in the Gambia |
Amount | £25,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | UNS61813 |
Organisation | Wellcome Trust |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 04/2021 |
End | 08/2021 |
Description | University Research Pump-Priming Fund |
Amount | £10,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | 565625 |
Organisation | City, University of London |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 11/2021 |
End | 10/2022 |
Description | CHIME Australia: Social Singing for Perinatal Mental Health |
Organisation | Australian National University (ANU) |
Country | Australia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The proposed working group project will bring together an interdisciplinary group of researchers to explore the way music may be employed to support perinatal mental health for women from migrant and refugee backgrounds in Australia. Due to our previous work with the CHIME intervention, we are acting as collaborating advisors based on our CHIME experience in other contexts. |
Collaborator Contribution | The project is being led and conducted by the ANU team. They secured funding for this work from the 2022 Gender Institute Research Funding for Working Groups scheme at ANU. |
Impact | There are no outputs for this project yet. |
Start Year | 2023 |
Description | CHIME in South Africa |
Organisation | University of Cape Town |
Country | South Africa |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | This project is still ongoing. I was responsible for reaching out and starting the collaboration and have helped with the development of the scoping project. |
Collaborator Contribution | This project is still ongoing. They have helped with the development of the scoping project and have helped support (with additional financial support from the grant) a research assistant who is conducting the work in South Africa. |
Impact | This is an interdisciplinary partnership between the CHIME team at Goldsmiths, University of London and the Perinatal Mental Health Project at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. It involves researchers in ethnomusicology, perinatal mental health and music psychology. The purpose of this project is to undertake a scoping study to ascertain whether a community-based music intervention for perinatal mental health, similar to what was developed in the Gambia (Sanfilippo et al., 2020), can be generalized to a South African context. This scoping study aims to identify experts and their contacts in perinatal mental health care, indigenous musical practices and women's groups and synthesize existing research to identify helpful intersections between maternal care and community music in South Africa. Additionally, this study aims to conduct a workshop to prototype a co-developed music intervention through a co-design workshop. Publication of this research could impact future work in perinatal mental health intervention development in South Africa and other LMICs by addressing a gap in previous literature around intervention implementation for mental health in LMICs. This work has been presented at the 2022 Marce Society conference. |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | CHIME in Southern India |
Organisation | National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences |
Country | India |
Sector | Hospitals |
PI Contribution | This project is funded by City, UoL to conduct a scoping study with partners at NIMHANS. The purpose of this project is to investigate the potential of a community-based music intervention for perinatal mental health in South India. Katie Rose Sanfilippo is leading this work (PI) and was the one to reach out to our partners in India. The initial conversations with these collaborators started at the end of the funded year as a postdoc. The collaboration has now been extended and the collaborators at NIMHANS have put in another application to continue the work which they are now leading. |
Collaborator Contribution | They will help lead the work in Bengaluru. They will help manage an RA who will be supported by the project and liaise with the team in the UK. |
Impact | No outputs or outcomes yet as the project is ongoing. It is an interdisciplinary and international collaboration that involves researchers in ethnomusicology, perinatal mental health and music psychology from the UK and India. |
Start Year | 2021 |
Title | CHIME: Community Health Intervention through Musical Engagement |
Description | We have conducted a feasibility/pilot trial of this intervention which we are ready to submit for publication. |
Type | Therapeutic Intervention - Psychological/Behavioural |
Current Stage Of Development | Initial development |
Year Development Stage Completed | 2019 |
Development Status | Actively seeking support |
Impact | We have formed a strong partnership with the Ministry of Health & Social Welfare and raised awareness of the important role that the culturally embedded musical practices of so called 'Kaneyeleng groups' (all female fertility societies) have for health management and dissemination of important health messaging in West Africa. |
URL | https://vimeo.com/357832228/d65c0c06a0 |
Description | 9th World Congress on Women's Mental Health 2022 Conference presentation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Hajara Huma, a member of the CHIME Gambia team, presented a talk titled: "Gambian men's perspectives on IPV during the perinatal period" as [art of a panel of intimate partner violence (IPV). The talk focused on men's perspectives on IPV. This talk was highly regarded as people felt that men's honest perspectives of IPV during the perinatal period were seldom presented. People found the work highly relevant and important in progressing our understanding of IPV during the perinatal period. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00737-022-01285-x |
Description | A Public Research Sharing with Stakeholders in the Gambia |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Perinatal health professionals, and third sector organizations working in and around mental health, as well as Ministry officials attended a sharing to hear about and discuss project goal and progress. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | BBC Radio Interview |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | A public outreach project (Wellcome Trust funded) related to the original GCRF grant involved us commissioning two well known Gambian musicians to write a new song about the importance of partner support during pregnancy, in line with Gambian Ministry of Health priorities. The songs were toured around Gambian communities and featured on radio broadcasts. As a result of this, Jaliba Kuyateh, one of these two musicians, received an honorary fellowship from Goldsmiths University and visited London to receive the award in January 2023. This resulted in an invitation for myself (LS) and Jaliba to be interviewed for Focus on Africa, World Service. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0dxlc7j |
Description | International MARCE society for Perinatal Mental Health, Iowa, US. Panel Presentation on maternal mental health in low resource settings |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | We presented the findings of our AHRC/MRC funded project at this annual meeting of the MARCE society, an international, interdisciplinary organization dedicated to supporting research and assistance surrounding prenatal and postpartum mental health for mothers, fathers and their babies. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://marce2020.com/sites/marce2020.com/files/marce_live_program.pdf |
Description | Invited seminar, University of Hertfordshire |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | Invited seminar to Department of Psychology, Univ of Hertfordshire. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Invited talk at Cambridge Institute for Music Therapy Resarch (CIMTR) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | I presented our AHRC/MRC funded project at an invited seminar hosted by Cambridge Institute for Music Therapy research |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://artseventsaru.co.uk/public-research-lecture-a-community-based-singing-for-perinatal-mental-h... |
Description | Invited talk at Centre for Music and Science (Univ of Cambridge) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Shared project progress with interdisciplinary research network, knowledgeable about music, ethnomusicology, music therapy |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://cms.mus.cam.ac.uk/ |
Description | Invited talk at Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy Charity |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
Results and Impact | Invited to discuss aims and progress of the project and to discuss intersection with related knowledge and fields |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Invited talk at Queen Annes School, Caverhsam (Brain Can Do seminar series) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Talk was attended by pupils, parents and teachers at Queen Annes School, Reading, for their Brain Can Do seminar series. Discussion afterwards led to suggestions of a future partnership to support the work. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://braincando.com/ |
Description | Invited talk at University of Durham (Centre for Music and Science) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Presented project progress to academic audience of students and faculty, across a broad range of disciplines (music, ethnomusicology, psychology of music) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/music/about/news/?itemno=29194 |
Description | Invited talk: Medical Statistics Department, Imperial Clinical Trials Unit |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Invited to ICTU to share progress on project and discuss design choices and methodological issues, with a view to sparking discussion of logistics and methods challenges of working in low income contexts |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Maternal Mental Health Across Africa Symposium |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | On March 17th 2021, a symposium in Maternal Mental Health Across Africa was held virtually. This event was funded by a SeNSS and ESRC postdoctoral fellowship awarded to Dr Katie Rose Sanfilippo at Goldsmiths, University of London. It was co-hosted by The African Alliance for Maternal Mental Health and the Global Alliance for Maternal Mental Health. The symposium brought together over 250 individuals representing 31 different countries including 14 different countries across Africa. It brought together researchers, health professionals, policy makers, charities and individuals with lived experience all interested in working together to ensure that maternal mental health is prioritized in educational and health initiatives across the Africa. It also aimed to forge new collaborations across disciplines and countries. The event included an opening talk from Dr Alain Gregoire about the role of alliances in promoting maternal mental health. It also included two panel discussions. The first panel, chaired by Dr Robert Stewart with the African Alliance for Maternal Mental Health, discussed research initiatives around maternal mental health happening across Africa and included talks from Dr Tesera Bitew from Ethiopia, Dr Genesis Chorwe-Sungani from Malawi, Associate Professor Simone Honikman from South Africa and Dr Juliet Nakku from Uganda. The second panel discussed pathways to policy and was chaired by Prof Oye Gureje from Nigeria. This panel included talks from Mr Buba Darboe from The Gambia, Dr Charlotte Hanlon from Ethiopia, Prof Crick Lund from South Africa and Dr Bibilola Oladeji from Nigeria. Breakout room sessions were held in the middle of the day to encourage discussion and networking. These sessions, led by experts, included a wide variety of topics including culturally relevant approaches to maternal mental health interventions, health promotion and birth preparedness, intimate partner violence, mental health care for adolescent mothers, response to covid-19 and telehealth, and maternal health and disability. As a part of the event the Maternal Mental Health Alliance The Gambia was launched. This Alliance brought together Ministry of Health departments, advocacy organizations and health professionals from over 30 organizations and departments across The Gambia. One of the founding organizations is CHIME, and some of the executive committee members are CHIME team members which shows the commitment of CHIME to ensure impact beyond research. The Alliance's mission is to improve maternal, child, and adolescent mental wellbeing in the Gambia through the promotion and advocacy for comprehensive, quality, affordable and sustainable integrated maternal mental health services for the reduction of morbidity and mortality related to maternal mental health. Throughout the day, women and men from a variety of countries including The Gambia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Botswana shared their lived experience of mental health problems during pregnancy or after birth with many discussing how this led them to become leaders in their own communities. This ensured that the discussions around policy and research were grounded in people's lived experience. Overall, the event was a success with people reporting that they had learned about the evidence-based practices and research findings around maternal mental health, they had become aware of the developing programs and professionals working to improve maternal mental health across Africa, they had a better understanding of how to integrate maternal mental health into primary health care and policy and were able to identify shared experiences with others. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://sites.gold.ac.uk/psychology/2021/04/15/1231/ |
Description | Music for perinatal mental health in The Gambia. Presentation at the UK MARCE meeting, London, UK. |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Pre-eminent conference for perinatal mental health specialists (researchers and practitioners) in the UK. Much interest in our partnership and design of culturally embedded intervention. Awarded prize for best poster |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Panel Presentation at Royal Musical Association Conference, London, UK. Maternal music in The Gambia: Understanding music's role in maternal mental health. |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | We presented the findings of our AHRC/MRC funded project to new audiences at this annual conference of the Royal Musical Association. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.rma.ac.uk/2020/10/25/conference-review-royal-musical-association-56th-annual-conference-... |
Description | Participation in "Shameless! Festival of Activism Against Sexual Violence" |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | I helped plan and participated in a panel discussion at this festival about experiences of domestic violence across Africa. This was created in collaboration with participants who were present at the Maternal Mental Health Across Africa meeting I ran during the beginning of this funding. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://shame.bbk.ac.uk/blog/shameless-festival-of-activism-against-sexual-violence/ |
Description | Presentation at the SEMPRE (Society for Music Psychology and Education) graduate conference, Cambridge, UK |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Academic conference which sparked discussion interest and discussion |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Presented a talk titled "Using music to encourage partner support in the Gambia" and was on the planning committee for the 2nd International Conference for Maternal Mental Health in Africa (ICAMMHA) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The Society for Pre and Post Natal Services (SPANS) in Zimbawe in collaboration with the International Marce Society and Perinatal Mental Health Trainging, held its second "International Conference on Maternal Mental Health in Africa" (ICAMMHA) from the 25th to the 27th of May. It was a virtual conference with the theme: integrating maternal paternal and child mental health into sexual, reproductive maternal, maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent health to improve outcomes. It brought together overall 200 delegates from across Zimbabwe and Africa to share their experiences and knowledge, interact, present their research papers and debate on various maternal, paternal and child mental health issues in Africa. The conference afforded the participants the opportunity to network, to learn from one another and the chance to explore ideas. Delegates delivered their presentations and had the question and answer segment. The virtual conference was attended by mental health practitioners, academics, policymakers and government agencies. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.pmhtraining.co.uk/conferences/african-conference-may-25th-27th-2021/ |
Description | Presented as part of panel - 2022 Conference of the International Marce Society |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Two CHIME projects (CHIME Gambia and CHIME South Africa) as well as a talk by Lauren Stewart were part of a panel titled, "How music can help in the perinatal period". This panel summarised the findings from the CHIEM projects we have run in The Gambia and South Africa. Lauren Stewart did a talk titled: Music and Perinatal Mental Health: getting beyond WEIRD. This talk focused on the value of using existing cultural and community-based practices as a starting point for the co-creation of theoretically driven interventions with measurable outcomes and the need for partnership building with community and cultural organizations that are wide-ranging, equitable and sustainable. There were over 1000 participants at the conference from all over the world. We had some great engagement in this panel and people felt it was innovative and interesting work. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://virtual.oxfordabstracts.com/#/event/2700/program |
Description | Presented at 2022 Conference of the International Marce Society |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This talk was titled: Community Health Intervention through Musical Engagement (CHIME) in South Africa: a formative investigation of feasibility with key stakeholders. The presentation focused on how CHIME could be adapted and implemented in South Africa. This talk was well received as people felt the topic to be novel and interesting and they enjoyed the interdisciplinary nature of the work. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://virtual.oxfordabstracts.com/#/event/2700/program |
Description | Presented talk at 1st Africa Marce Meeting |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | I was invited to speak at the first Marce Africa Meeting on Maternal Mental Health. This audience was primarily practitioners based across Africa. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://marcesociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/MMH-Africa-Sept-2021-Conference.pdf |
Description | Press Conference to Health Journalists in the Gambia |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | A panel of health journalists, staff from the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and perinatal health professionals in the Gambia were invited to a press conference and sharing to disseminate the aims and progress of the project. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Public Seminar: Using music to support maternal mental health in The Gambia |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The aim of this seminar was to preset the CHIME Gambia work as part of a seminar series put on by the Centre for Healthcare Innovation at City. This talk was attended by about 15 people including staff and students within City and internationally. This seminar sparked interested with many different professionals in health and in music. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.city.ac.uk/news-and-events/events/2022/march/using-music-to-support-maternal-mental-heal... |
Description | Talk at Begin before Birth |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This meeting reveals fascinating insights into perinatal mental health. Chaired by Professor Vivette Glover, this symposium brought together international experts to discuss mental health matters for parents and their babies, giving updates on the latest research. The programme was of interest to all those who care for women in the perinatal period including health visitors, midwives, obstetricians, psychologists, psychiatrists, GPs, and paediatricians, as well as researchers, commissioners, and charity workers. The conference covered an overview of the range of mental health problems that can occur in the perinatal period and how best to deal with them; domestic violence and how to help; cultural differences; effects on the baby; and how music can help. The conference consisted of seven expert speakers and the opportunity for a question and answer session. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.symposia.org.uk/courses/begin-before-birth-an-update-on-perinatal-mental-health/#:~:text... |
Description | Understanding maternal mental health in The Gambia. Presentation at the UK MARCE meeting, London, UK. |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Much interest in our development of an innovative, low cost, non stigmatizing intervention for a low income setting ; awarded prize for best oral presentation |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |