Lomas, Alexandra;
(2021)
Perfectionism and its relationship with mental health difficulties and their disclosure in antenatal women.
Doctoral thesis (D.Clin.Psy), UCL (University College London).
Preview |
Text
Lomas_10135271_Thesis_sig_removed.pdf Download (951kB) | Preview |
Abstract
Background: Whilst much research has focused on mental health difficulties in the postnatal period, limited research has looked at this antenatally, especially in the context of clinical perfectionism and disclosure. It has been suggested that personality traits such as perfectionism play a role in the development of postnatal mental health difficulties. Clinical perfectionism has been identified as a predictor of concern about disclosure of mental health difficulties in other populations. Methods: Pregnant women (N = 676) completed an online questionnaire shared via several pregnancy-related websites at the start of the first UK Covid-19 lockdown. Five measures were administered to assess depression, anxiety, perfectionism, anticipated likelihood of disclosure and attitudes to disclosure. Results: Seventeen percent of participants stated they were struggling with depression, and 23% with anxiety. Clinical perfectionism was positively correlated with depression and anxiety. Participants were more likely to disclose mental health difficulties to a personal rather than professional contact. Women scoring high on perfectionism were more likely to hold negative attitudes to disclosure. There was no impact of perfectionism on anticipated likelihood of disclosure. Limitations: Over 90% of women in this study were highly educated, partnered, white women. As such, generalisability of the study findings may be limited. Conclusions: The Covid-19 lockdown led to high self-reported anxiety and depression. Clinical perfectionism is associated with antenatal anxiety and depression. The assessment of perfectionism should be considered in order to improve detection of those at risk of mental health difficulties, who may benefit from early intervention. Strategies aimed at reducing barriers to disclosure to healthcare providers are recommended to facilitate access to support.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | D.Clin.Psy |
| Title: | Perfectionism and its relationship with mental health difficulties and their disclosure in antenatal women |
| Event: | UCL |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2021. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10135271 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
