Week 9: Thoughts & Feedback on Presentations

Blog Discussion 9: Thoughts & feedback on presentations-Leah, Valentina, and Kate’s Group

I found this group’s presentation particularly interesting. Their focus was primarily mental health of women in Nicaragua. Some of the information that was presented coincided with what Hana presented for her part so I was able to make a lot of connections when Leah, Valentina, and Kate presented their points. One general theme I found intriguing was that people will talk about mental health but they won’t do much about it. I found this aspect particularly interesting because it reminds me of the stigma of mental health in Haitian culture for both genders. For example, when I interviewed the anthropologist Chelsey Kivland about her ethnographic study of Haiti, she said that many Haitians will not really address mental health but will rather tough it out because for many Haitians, good health is defined as a life where they have basic necessities.

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As a result, I can see the same connection with Nicaragua because both peoples do not have access to adequate healthcare so if they have the basic necessities in life, they are content. As Chelsey Kivland put it, “Haitians are too busy struggling to survive to worry about mental health” (Kivland 2016). As a result of the lack of emphasis on healthcare in Nicaragua, the suicide rate is pretty high. This was something I found fascinating as sometimes the toll of trying to survive takes a toll on one’s mental health and as a result, people get pushed to their breaking point. From this groups presentation I also learned that only about 2.2% of medical school hours put towards mental health. Nicaraguan culture places so much emphasis on making sure that all the physical wounds are treated that they tend to forget about the things that can’t be seen like mental stress. I also learned from this group that the Nicaraguan government made a deal with the Catholic church that would effectively crackdown on abortions.

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Furthermore, there is a law in place that says that doctors cannot cause unintentional abortions and many times, doctors will refuse to treat a woman who is pregnant because they do not want to go to jail if something goes wrong during the procedure. This stigma within Nicaraguan culture in regards to maternal health can take a huge toll on women especially in regards to mental health. For example, a lot of mothers within Nicaragua suffer from postpartum depression and anxiety after having giving birth or when they are pregnant. Although depression and anxiety are augmented immensely in a country as impoverished as Nicaragua, the United States also has to deal with it as well. More than 10% of moms in us have postpartum in US. One mild form of depression within mothers is called Baby Blues and this can be treated by mothers talking and taking time for themselves. One good thing about this form of depression is that it is short lasting and doesn’t have to many serious effects.  A large part of this depression and anxiety is attributed to the Machismo culture in Nicaragua. There is a stigma in Nicaraguan culture that a pregnancy should be one of the happiest moments in a mother’s life but unfortunately, this is not the case. As this group and mine also touched upon, the structural barriers such as finances, machismo culture, and lack of access hinder a woman from getting proper access to healthcare and mental care.

 

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For example, in Nicaragua mothers are not expected to stay within the hospital when they have to cook, clean, and tend to the other children. As a result, mothers do not have much time to tend to their well-being because they are worried about other things they must get done. One other thing that I found interesting was Dartmouth-Hitchcock Women’s Health Resource Center. This center seemed to be very efficient at giving mothers the time they need to talk as well as making sure they have all of the resources they need. For example, the center talks about childbirth preparation, postpartum care, and breastfeeding issues, pregnancy, parenting classes on birthing, baby care, first aid, and etcetera. Although this health center is within a well to do community in New Hampshire, if we were to somehow replicate it within multiple underprivileged communities in Nicaragua, I feel that it would help the mothers immensely.

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1409-1030x690This is what I was able to get from this group’s presentation in regards to maternal mental health in Nicaragua. Overall, I enjoyed this groups presentation as I felt I could closely relate to the points that were brought up. There was not much that I could say I didn’t like about the group presentation. One thing that I did struggle with was keeping up with the pacing. I felt that at the beginning, the first presenter moved very quickly. Other than that though, the presentation was great!