Warm Connections: Integration of Infant Mental Health Services into WIC.
Susanne KlawetterKelly GlazeAshley SwardKaren A FrankelPublished in: Community mental health journal (2020)
Low-income women experience disproportionately high rates of adverse maternal mental health outcomes, such as pregnancy-related depression, and have less access to behavioral health support. Adverse maternal mental health affects children through compromising bonding, impeding early childhood development, and increasing risks of child maltreatment. Integrated behavioral health approaches can improve access to behavioral health services by locating services in community-based settings routinely accessed by low-income families. Warm Connections is an innovative integrated behavioral health program delivered in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and rooted in an infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) framework. This exploratory study describes Warm Connections and provides evaluation results from its pilot implementation. Findings suggest Warm Connections may reduce distress and increase parenting efficacy among low-income mothers and support further research of this program's feasibility.
Keyphrases
- mental health
- pregnancy outcomes
- healthcare
- quality improvement
- mental illness
- public health
- young adults
- polycystic ovary syndrome
- primary care
- physical activity
- health information
- birth weight
- type diabetes
- depressive symptoms
- human health
- clinical trial
- climate change
- body mass index
- skeletal muscle
- social media
- risk assessment
- adipose tissue
- study protocol
- adverse drug
- insulin resistance
- electronic health record
- health insurance
- weight loss
- weight gain