Perspectives Of Women With Serious Mental Illness

hi I'm Dr Nicole goodsmith a psychiatrist and Health Services researcher at UCLA in the VA Center for the study of healthcare Innovation implementation and policy at the Greater Los Angeles VA Medical Center I'm looking forward to sharing with you our article addressing pregnancy and parenting and Mental Health Care perspectives of women with serious mental illness women living with serious mental illness such as major depression bipolar disorder and schizophrenia are increased risk for pregnanc

y complications like pre-term birth as well as negative parenting outcomes such as custody loss for people living with serious mental illness hepati mental health clinics often serve as main points of contact with the Healthcare System offering an opportunity to support women in numerous aspects of pregnancy and parenting to guide efforts to integrate Reproductive Services into routine mental health care we partnered with leadership at the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health a large s

afety net heal mental health system serving individuals with serious mental illness through our study we saw to learn more about how women living with serious mental illness view discussions about pregnancy and parenting with their Mental Health Providers this work was grounded in a reproductive Justice framework to consider how historical and ongoing reproductive control and coercion of women with mental illness may affect their experiences of pregnancy parenting and mental health care we condu

cted qualitative interviews with 22 reproductive age cisgender women patients from four clinics most of our participants were black or Latina which is relevant given the well documented racism coercion and judgment that women of color have described in their experiences of reproductive healthare our findings revealed significant gaps in the delivery of information and support around pregnancy and parenting within mental health care I want to highlight three specific findings for you first most p

articipants had little to no experience discussing pregnancy intentions or plans with their Mental Health Providers second participants were generally dissatisfied with the information they received about the safety of psychiatric medications and pregnancy and few participants could remember having any such conversation before they were pregnant third While most participants with children appreciated discussing parenting challenges with their Mental Health Providers they also Express needing mor

e parenting support and resources things like parenting classes on-site Child Care during Mental Health visits and referrals for resources like baby supplies our findings underscore the need for greater integration of pregnancy and parenting interventions education support and resources into Mental Health Services for women living with serious mental illness policies that increase mental health provider and Clinic capacity to address pregnancy and parenting can improve the treatment experiences

of women living with serious mental illness and ultimately Advanced maternal and child outcomes to learn more you can read our article in the perinal mental health special issue of Health Affairs thank you