Music offers vital support for maternal mental health

A study carried out by the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Perinatal Mental Health Project (PMHP) has revealed that culturally grounded, community-based music-making can be adapted to support women struggling with mental health conditions during pregnancy and after birth.

Co-authored by Associate Professor Simone Honikman, the director of the PMHP, in collaboration with a team of international colleagues, the study is titled “Community health intervention through musical engagement in South Africa: A formative exploration of the feasibility and the development of music-based intervention to support perinatal mental health”.

The research was informed by the Community Health Intervention through Musical Engagement (CHIME) project for perinatal mental health in Gambia – a psychosocial intervention that joined researchers and local community music groups (Kanyeleng groups) to design an inclusive, socially supported intervention for pregnant women.

The magic in music

During one-hour sessions held over a period of six weeks, Kanyeleng groups adapted the lyrics of traditional Gambian songs to align with peripartum mental health themes and led call-and-response singing with groups of pregnant women. Research findings indicate a significant reduction in symptoms of anxiety and depression among women who participated in the music group, compared to those who received standard care.

“A main theme that emerged was the number of challenges contributing to peripartum distress among South African women.”

As a result of this work, Associate Professor Honikman and her team held a series of focus group discussions with various South African stakeholders, including One to One Africa – a non-governmental organisation focused on maternal and child health service in rural Eastern Cape; music experts, community health workers, healthcare professionals and traditional healers. Honikman said the aim of these discussions was to explore whether (and how) the CHIME intervention could work in South Africa.

“A main theme that emerged was the number of challenges contributing to peripartum distress among South African women, including food insecurity, unemployment, gender-based violence, substance abuse, social exclusion and stigmatisation due to mental ill health,” she said.

A well-suited approach

From their interactions, Honikman said music-based support for perinatal mental health shows strong potential in South Africa, especially if it is co-developed in partnership with communities it aims to serve.

She said participants suggested that communal music-making practices such as group singing, chanting, clapping and drumming would be well-suited in the South African context, where community music practices are already culturally embedded, and some are specifically associated with the perinatal period. In addition, she said, focus group discussions also revealed that the communal nature of music-making offers strong potential to support women facing stigma and isolation, while simultaneously fostering shifts in mood and enriching spiritual experiences.

“The discussions highlighted the need for music-making interventions that are familiar, accessible, participatory and culturally relevant, thereby promoting supportive environments shaped more by women’s comfort and enjoyment than by any formal music outcome,” Honikman said.

A current research study funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research in the United Kingdom is exploring adaptations of the CHIME intervention in the Gambia, Lesotho and the urban South African setting.