The impacts of biological and social determinants of mental health are powerful for women, and should be considered when addressing inequities in mental health outcomes.
That was the message from Dr Jennifer Babb from the Women’s Recovery Network – a co-designed specialist women’s mental health service in Victoria. Dr Babb was presenting an online mini research conference held last month by Mind Australia for its staff and clinical partners.
Women were one of three cohorts that Mind’s outcomes research found to enter and exit sub-acute services with comparatively higher levels of psychological distress. The other two cohorts were youth and gender diverse people.
Data collected from Mind sub-acute services in Queensland, Victoria, and Western Australia during the 2022/2023 Financial Year showed on average female residents entered the service with a psychological distress score of 22. In comparison, male residents entered with a score of 19.4.
Dr Babb said that providing specialised mental health support for women is essential because of the biological and social determinants of mental health that are more likely to affect them. These include:
- specific mental health conditions linked to hormonal systems and reproductive capacity such as postnatal depression and menopausal depression
- gender norms/societal expectations and discrimination that drive unequal outcomes for women, such as increased likelihood of experiencing body shaming, sexual abuse and gender-based violence, and gender-based trauma due to factors such as forced and early marriage or human trafficking.
“The biological and social determinants of mental health often intersect,” Dr Babb said.
“For example, experiencing trauma [a social factor] can result in biological changes to hormonal systems and brain structure, while the neural response [a physiological process] to stress [an environmental factor] differs between males and females.”
Dr Laura Hayes, Research Manager at Mind Australia said that while the data showed PARC and SUSD (Prevention and Recovery Care and Step Up Step Down) service users as a whole were achieving significant decreases in psychological distress and other positive outcomes, it was important to identify and address cohorts that needed extra support.
In light of this research, Mind sub-acute staff discussed solutions to better support female residents at PARCs and SUSDs. One solution offered was to develop training modules and practice guidelines to assist staff when supporting female residents who have an experience of domestic or family violence.
The online mini-conference, including Dr Jennifer Babb’s presentation, can be viewed here.
For more information about Mind support services near you, visit the Mind service finder or phone 1300 286 463.