Abstract
Purpose
The Hennepin Healthcare Mother-Baby Day Hospital is a partial hospital program for pregnant and postpartum women with moderate to severe psychiatric illness. Based in an urban safety net hospital, the Day Hospital provides trauma-informed, multigenerational, group-based therapy and psychiatric care. This report describes the program and preliminary data regarding maternal mental health and functioning at treatment entry and discharge.
Methods
Data include information on pregnant and postpartum women who were admitted to the Day Hospital between April 2013 and September 2019 and completed at least 4 days of treatment. We describe patient demographics and changes in mental health and maternal functioning.
Results
328 women consented to participation in research, representing 364 unique admissions. Primary diagnoses included major depression (55.6%; n = 202); generalized anxiety (36.4%; n = 132); bipolar spectrum (28%; n = 102); and trauma-related disorders (20.6%; n = 75). Patients reported significant improvements (p < 0.001) in self-report scales assessing depression, anxiety, and maternal functioning.
Conclusions
A mother-baby day hospital based in an urban safety net hospital is effective in improving mental health and parenting functioning in perinatal women with moderate to severe psychiatric illness. The high acuity and prevalence of comorbid depression, anxiety, bipolar spectrum, and trauma-related disorders support the need for trauma-informed, multigenerational approaches that address perinatal mental health and attachment-based parenting support.
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Data availability
The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are not publicly available but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Funding
This research was partly funded by the Lynne and Andrew Redleaf Foundation.
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection were performed by all authors. Data analysis was performed by Nora L. Erickson, PhD and Helen G. Kim, MD. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Helen G. Kim, MD and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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This study was approved by the appropriate Institutional Review Board at Hennepin Heathcare Research Institute and was performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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Kim, H.G., Erickson, N.L. & Flynn, J.M. Keeping Parent, Child, and Relationship in Mind: Clinical Effectiveness of a Trauma-informed, Multigenerational, Attachment-Based, Mother-Baby Partial Hospital Program in an Urban Safety Net Hospital. Matern Child Health J 25, 1776–1786 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-021-03221-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-021-03221-4