Closing Gaps in Perinatal Mental Health Care by Building the Capacity of Frontline Providers
Date: May 12, 2021
Presenter: Nancy Byatt, DO, MS, MBA, FACLP
Mood and anxiety disorders affect one in five individuals during pregnancy or in the first postpartum year. They increase the risk of adverse maternal, infant, and child outcomes and account for 9% of maternal mortality. Recognizing that frontline perinatal health care providers are in an ideal position to intervene, it is recommended that mental health care is integrated into perinatal care. However, barriers at the individual, provider, systems, and community levels impede treatment participation. Less than a quarter of women with perinatal mood or anxiety disorders receive mental health care. This presentation will review models for implementing evidence-based health care in perinatal care settings.
Models described will include:
- the statewide Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Program (MCPAP) for Moms program that helps obstetric practices detect, assess, and treat depression; and
- a practice-level intervention that leverages MCPAP for Moms to provide rigorous training and implementation protocols and assistance to fully integrate mental health screening, assessment and follow-up into obstetric practice work flow.
Lessons learned, remaining gaps in care and future directions will also be discussed.
