The Guidelines summarise published evidence and make recommendations on key areas of perinatal mental health care. In areas for which there is insufficient evidence for recommendations, the Guidelines include good practice points (GPPs), which are based on lower quality evidence and/or best-practice clinical judgement. The recommendations and GPPs were revised after the public consultation process in March to May 2010, and the Guidelines as a whole benefited greatly from the thoughtful contributions of a wide range of health professionals,consumers and carers, both at workshops and through written submissions.

While the Guidelines are intended as a resource for all health professionals working with women in the perinatal period (pregnancy and the following year), they are primarily targeted at primary care health professionals. Individual use of the guidance will depend on the knowledge and skills of the health professional involved. Women, their infants and significant others should be at the centre of care, wherever it is provided.

These Guidelines will be implemented within the context of current activity at national, jurisdictional and local levels,and of the existing policy framework of the National Perinatal Depression Initiative (NPDI). This national collaboration,introduced by the Australian Government in the 2008–09 Budget, was informed by beyondblue’s National Action Plan for Perinatal Mental Health (2008).

The Guidelines Expert Advisory Committee recognises that routine psychosocial assessment of women in the perinatal period is an area of continuing debate among jurisdictions, academics and the health sector and that its introduction may have resource implications (including undertaking psychosocial assessment, health professional training and devising local pathways to care). This is being considered in the implementation of the NPDI. It is anticipated that the Guidelines will contribute to broader understanding of mental health care in the perinatal period, greater consistency in approaches to this care, and improved support and outcomes for women and their families.