Du'cane, Monique, Putter, Kaila C., Dimmock, James A., Law, Kwok Hong, and Krause, Amanda E. (2025) Maternal peer support preferences during the perinatal period. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 25. 1243.

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Abstract

Background Insufficient social support for mothers in the perinatal period greatly increases their vulnerability to mental health challenges. Peer support programs are an effective strategy for preventing postpartum depression and addressing various mental health concerns during the perinatal period. However, these programs are not without their limitations, with research required to enhance peer relationships within them. This study aimed to explore mothers’ preferences for peer support to facilitate positive and supportive relationships within perinatal peer support programs. Methods A total of 14 Australian mothers participated in semi-structured focus groups or individual interviews. Thematic analysis was used to identify common patterns within the data. Results Two higher-order categories of maternal peer support preferences were identified: personal and interpersonal qualities, and similar background factors. Themes (and subthemes) within personal and interpersonal qualities comprised of: an affable person (warm traits, trustworthy); values (cultural values, parenting values); able to provide adequate emotional support (emotionally supportive, listening); and support expectations (helping boundaries, availability). Similar background factors included: age related factors (age of mentor, age of youngest child); social support systems; socioeconomic status (household income; working arrangement); location (region, proximity); and perinatal experience (conception and pregnancy, birth). Conclusions The findings of this study provide valuable insight into mothers’ preferences for peer support, enhancing the development of meaningful relationships within maternal peer support programs. Results may be useful in guiding the design of peer support programs for perinatal women.

Item ID:	89683
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1471-2393
Keywords:	well-being, perinatal, peri-natal, pregnacy, peer support, social support, health, pregnant, birth, maternal
Copyright Information:	© The Author(s) 2025. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
Date Deposited:	24 Nov 2025 22:36
FoR Codes:	52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5203 Clinical and health psychology > 520304 Health psychology @ 100%
SEO Codes:	20 HEALTH > 2005 Specific population health (excl. Indigenous health) > 200509 Women's and maternal health @ 70% 28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280121 Expanding knowledge in psychology @ 30%
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