UNAIR NEWS – Public Health Study Program PSDKU Universitas Airlangga in Banyuwangi in collaboration with Psychology Study Program Faculty of Medicine Syah Kuala University conducted a training to improve the skills of midwives and health trainees. The purpose of this training is pregnant and lactating mothers screening with depression problems of peripartum cardiomyopathy and providing them with the necessary support. The training was held on Saturday, May 12.

“This training adopted the previous training which was successfully done in Banyuwangi for four days,” said Desak Made Sintha, one of the research lecturers from Public Health (Kesmas) Study Program PSDKU Universitas Airlangga in Banyuwangi.

The previous training held from April 9 to 12 was held in Minak Jinggo Room, Banyuwangi District Government Office, and Meeting Room of Licin Public Health Center, Banyuwangi.

Postnatal and antenatal care in Indonesia have been only performed physically and excludes the necessary mental health care.

“In the training, KENAL IBU module was developed, it stands for Kesehatan Mental Ibu Hamil dan Menyusui (Mental Health of Pregnant and Lactating Mothers). The content was adapted to different languages ​​in Banda Aceh and Banyuwangi. So there are measuring instruments in Indonesian, Javanese, Madurese, Osing, and Aceh, ” said Sintha.

The training of midwives and health cadres in Banda Aceh was held for four days, from Wednesday, May 9 to Saturday, May 12, at CMHS Building Psychology Study Program, Faculty of Medicine, Syiah Kuala University, Banda Aceh.

The first phase of KENAL IBU training was for health cadres, continued with the second phase for midwives in Banda Aceh. There were 7 midwives and 38 cadres in Banda Aceh participated in this training.

In addition to interactive activity reviewing KENAL IBU guidebook, training materials were presented by several experts, such as psychologists Dr. Marty Mawarpury and Maya Khairani, M.Psi from Psikology Study Program Syah Kuala University and two facilitators from PSDKU UNAIR Banyuwangi.

Almost all trainees showed great enthusiasm during the activities. The evaluation showed that the trainees felt the benefits of the training as most of them were not very well informed about the mental health of pregnant and lactating mothers. The gained a lot of information through this training.

The midwives and health cadres of the training expected that the activities conducted continuously. In addition, they also hoped that in the future, the training materials can also involve husbands or other family members in order to participate assisting them in dealing with peripartum depression in pregnant and lactating mothers.

“We plan to disseminate the results of this training to all public health center staffs, including the knowledge shared during training with mental nurses at the puskesmas. In addition, we will apply the screening we have learned in this training to pregnant and lactating mothers in our work areas, “said Hera and Eva, midwives who represent Puskesmas Kopelma Darussalam, Banda Aceh.

The trainees also hoped that one day they will have the opportunity to conduct comparative studies to various health centers in Banyuwangi that have already implemented KENAL IBU screening.

The head of the training project team Susy K Sebayang, Ph.D, expressed her hopes for the training.

“We hoped that our detection methods and referral system provided during this training can be adopted by the local government on an ongoing basis,” said Susy.

Susy added that this activity is the first in Indonesia to show that routine care before and after childbirth can provide support for pregnant and lactating mothers, not only for their physical health but also their mental health.

After KENAL IBU detection training in Banda Aceh for midwives and cadres in Banda Aceh, all the trainings conducted in these two cities, Banyuwangi and Banda Aceh, will be evaluated. The goal is to assess how well midwives and health cadres absorb this new knowledge and apply it in routine antenatal and postnatal care services. (*)

Author: Siti Mufaidah

Editor: Binti Q. Masruroh