Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week: Research into perinatal anxiety aims to improve support for mums

Research from Health and Care Economics Cymru (HCEC), which is funded by Health and Care Research Wales, aims to improve support for mothers, including those returning to work after having a child, by conducting the first-ever economic analysis of perinatal anxiety.

Since launching, the study has also been expanded to analyse the economic impact of birth trauma, something affecting 30,000 women each year. 

It aims to develop advice to improve care and support for women in the future.

To mark Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week (5-11 May 2025), Holly Taylor-Peter shares her experience of struggling to return to work after the birth of her son, and the difference research like this could make to mums.

One in five women will experience a mental health problem during pregnancy or in the first year after they give birth. Perinatal anxiety is one of the most common, affecting almost 20% of women.

The MAP and MAP ALLIANCE studies use data provided by more than 2000 women on their mental wellbeing during pregnancy and the first year following childbirth. Women were asked what services they accessed for support and how often, for example visiting their GP, midwife or health visitor, with the average cost calculated for each service. The study also explores wider societal costs, such as whether anxiety impacted mothers’ plans to return to work altogether.

Last year, MAP ALLIANCE received further funding from the NIHR Health and Social Care Delivery Research Programme, supported by Health and Care Research Wales, to conduct the first-ever economic analysis of birth trauma, after the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) Inquiry into Birth Trauma recommended more research in this area. The inquiry included submissions from women who were unable to go back to work due to PTSD triggers, suggesting a wider economic cost.

Kalpa Pisavadia, Research Project Support Officer at HCEC, said, 

MAP ALLIANCE is a really exciting project to be a part of, with these analyses the first of their kind in the UK. Perinatal anxiety and birth trauma affect thousands of women across the UK each year in ways which ripple out across society. By understanding more about the impact of these conditions, MAP ALLIANCE will be able to contribute to developing more effective support for women, ensuring care offered in the future is accessible, acceptable and cost-effective for the NHS to provide.”

Holly Taylor-Peter, 30, from Carmarthenshire gave birth to son Wyatt in November 2023. After experiencing a traumatic birth, Holly developed postnatal anxiety and depression and struggled to return to work. Now she is passionate about sharing her story to support other mums in similar situations. Holly said, “Within a few days of being home from hospital, my mum and husband Dan realised something wasn’t right. I expected to feel the “baby blues” but this felt completely overwhelming and I couldn’t stop crying.” 

Holly was referred to the perinatal mental health team and found the support of other mums helpful. “Joining the Mums Matter group online helped, to be able to speak to other mums going through similar things and understand I wasn’t alone in how I was feeling. I was also prescribed sertraline which helped me to cope and feel more like myself again.”

But when the time came to go back to work, Holly said, “all my feelings resurfaced." 

I felt so anxious and scared as my return date got closer. I’d cry to Dan that I didn’t want to go back. I love my job, but I thought about leaving altogether.

“I discussed my concerns with my manager and things were done to help me, but after three weeks I took further time off. In February things were better and I returned to a different unit. This was a really positive change for me and I was so glad to have had that support from my team to still be able to do the job that I loved.”

Holly thinks research like the MAP ALLIANCE study has a vital role to play in encouraging more open conversations around perinatal mental health. 

It’s so important to be doing more research in this area and to encourage more people to talk openly about their experiences. Perinatal mental health is still such a taboo subject and not spoken about enough, but often when you do open up about your experiences you realise you’re not alone. I hope research like this gets more people talking so we can all support each other.”

Charlotte Aitken is a Perinatal Peer Mentor Support Worker at Hywel Dda University Health Board. The service has provided peer mentor support across Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion since 2019 as well as signposting women to a range of organisations.  

Charlotte works with up to approximately 15 women each week across the Pembrokeshire region and said, “Maternal mental health is so important but so many mums feel like they have to just deal with it. We see some form of perinatal anxiety in most ladies we work with. It can be due to a range of factors, particularly around going back to work. There are so many factors: how to balance working alongside parenting, childcare costs, worrying about how their child will settle into childcare or being cared for by another family member. There is a huge amount of guilt that many mums feel which can add to their anxiety and make it seem overwhelming.  

What is really powerful about this role is that we can normalise a lot of the things mums might be feeling, and help them feel less stigmatised and isolated. This research will help to do more of that – bringing together hundreds of mums’ voices to demonstrate you’re not alone, as well as providing evidence of the difference good maternal mental health support could make.” 

MAP ALLIANCE is led by Dr Rose Meades and Professor Susan Ayers from City, University of London, with a health economic evaluation led by Professor Rhiannon Tudor Edwards, co-director of HCEC and the Centre for Health Economics and Economics and Medicines Evaluation (CHEME) at Bangor University. 

Find out more about the MAP ALLIANCE study here.

This project is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Services Delivery and Research programme (NIHR133727). The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.