The Experience of Pain for Black Women with Postpartum Depression
Project Overview
My project aims to understand how racial identity is influencing the way Black women experience post-partum depression (PPD). Persistent stress from social exclusion and racial discrimination has been passed down through generations of Black communities. It is believed that this stress is now impacting the way Black individuals experience and manage pain. My project will investigate whether Black women with PPD are experiencing pain more prevalently and/or intensely because of this generational transmission of stress. If so, this could explain why Black women are at much higher risk of developing PPD while also often being underdiagnosed and untreated. It’s possible that the pain Black women with PPD experience is presenting differently in comparison to traditional symptoms expected of women with PPD. This would explain why current diagnostic tools used by clinicians aren’t adequately detecting PPD in Black women.
Principal Investigator
Adelaide Swanston , Wilfrid Laurier University
Partners and Donors
Heart and Stroke Foundation