Fourteen recommendations to help you support the Muslim community better
“What happens if a Muslim woman presents with trauma, following birth?”, asks Dr Aaliyah Shaikh. “Do you know how to support her?” On our Make Birth Better socials and in our training we talk about equitable care, which we consider to be the ultimate goal for maternity services. ‘But where do we begin?’, we often wonder and we know you might too. Which is why we are thrilled to share Dr Aaliyah Shaikh’s PhD thesis here. Aaliyah explored and documented British Muslims’ experiences of pregnancy and birth trauma. Here are fourteen crucial recommendations to help you support the Muslim community better.
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“A few key questions were explored during my research. I wanted to highlight: what happens when a Muslim woman presents with trauma, following birth”, explains Aaliyah.
She continues: “Perhaps she is coming from an already stressed socio-economic situation, and carrying intergenerational trauma, now she experiences discrimination and obstetric violence during birth.
How is her distress to be remedied or dealt with by the healthcare system that has already discriminated against her, where she felt harmed?
Where does she go for support, help and healing - to the same system that does not acknowledge or value her?”
Here are fourteen recommendations from Aaliyah’s research that can be considered by healthcare providers, policy makers, mosques and the Muslim community:
Reform is required in research processes, education and policy that is decolonised, trauma-aware and faith sensitive regarding Muslims' experiences and healthcare needs.
Research ‘about’ Muslims should be ‘with’ Muslims.
Consult with Muslims in the interpretation of behaviours, phenomena and experiences of Muslims; do not assume all Muslims experience in the same way.
Re-evaluation of structural determinants of health that impact the perinatal experiences of Muslims.
Honestly tackle institutionally racist, colonial and sexist systems which disadvantage healthcare provision for Muslims.
Improve the lack of understanding around perinatal mental health and the need to recognise and know what birth trauma is in the Muslim community.
Healthcare practitioners / hospital staff / midwives to provide proactive support, advice and create a Culturally Safe relationship with Muslims they are providing care to.
Muslim community, mosques, community centres and healthcare providers, to collaborate holistically providing materials around pregnancy and birth that are tailored for Muslim families, bringing together Islamic tradition and modern science.
Discussions of Mental Health to be normalised and for there to be education from an Islamic paradigm about the experiences of pregnancy and birth and perinatal mental health, including related topics of parenting, emotions, and shame.
Mosque-centred social networks for mothers and fathers aiding spiritual and mental struggles related to motherhood and fatherhood.
Muslim men to be provided with more information and education around what women experience during pregnancy, labour and birth, including referring to and embedding the teaching through the Qur’an and Sunnah sources, creating a point of holistic education and connection.
Education around the sex of the baby and addressing cultural preferences for the male child with the Islamic teachings that reprimand preference of the sex of a baby.
Providing specific support initiatives for Muslim men who can feel dismissed by the process.
Support groups for Muslims experiencing perinatal mental health challenges.
Aaliyah’s PhD was in Health Psychology with the School of Health & Psychological Sciences, Centre for Maternal and Child Health. Aaliyah created a page here, which includes quotes from the research, recommendations and research process. Click here to download the thesis in full.