Research Evaluates Association Between Maternal Mental Health and Discharge Readiness in Mothers of Preterm Infants

Release Date: 03/28/2017

Each year, more than 450,000 babies are born preterm in the U.S., many of whom spend days, weeks or even months in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The mothers of these infants are at increased risk for maternal mental health disorders including depression, anxiety and posttraumatic stress, which could impact their transition home to care for their infant.

New research indicates that mothers with a history of mental health disorders feel less ready for discharge from the NICU than with mothers without a mental health history.

The research, entitled “Maternal Mental Health and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Discharge Readiness in Mothers of Preterm Infants,” has been published in The Journal of Pediatrics. The research team was led by Elisabeth C. McGowan, MD, a neonatologist at Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, a Care New England hospital, and assistant professor of pediatrics at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and also includes Women & Infants/Brown University colleagues Katheleen Hawes, PhD, RN; Richard Tucker, BA; Melissa O’Donnell, MSW; and Betty Vohr, MD; as well as Nan Du, BS, MD, from Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital.

“Our primary objective was to evaluate the association between maternal mental health disorders and discharge readiness,” said Dr. McGowan. “We defined discharge readiness as parental emotional comfort and confidence with infant care, in addition to attainment of skills and knowledge, with parent mental well-being critical to parenting readiness.”

For this study, 934 mothers of infants born preterm (earlier than 37 weeks gestation) between 2012 and 2015 and who were participating in a transition home program completed a discharge readiness questionnaire. The questionnaire measured perceptions of staff support, infant well-being (medical stability), maternal well-being (emotional readiness/competency), and maternal comfort (worry about her infant). Social workers obtained a history of mental health disorder.

“We hypothesized that mothers with a history of mental health disorders would report decreased perceptions of NICU discharge readiness compared with mothers without a history,” explained Dr. McGowan. “We concluded that the one-third who reported a history of mental health disorder indeed had decreased perception of their infant well-being in addition to their own well-being during the critical time of NICU discharge. This indicates that there is an unmet need for provision of enhanced transition home services for the mother-infant dyad.”

 

 

 

About Women & Infants Hospital 

Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, a Care New England hospital, is one of the nation’s leading specialty hospitals for women and newborns. A major teaching affiliate of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University for obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics, as well as a number of specialized programs in women’s medicine, Women & Infants is the 9th largest stand-alone obstetrical service in the country and the largest in New England with approximately 8,500 deliveries per year. A Designated Baby-Friendly® USA hospital, U.S.News & World Report 2014-15 Best Children’s Hospital in Neonatology and a 2014 Leapfrog Top Hospital, in 2009 Women & Infants opened what was at the time the country’s largest, single-family room neonatal intensive care unit.

Women & Infants and Brown offer fellowship programs in gynecologic oncology, maternal-fetal medicine, urogynecology and reconstructive pelvic surgery, neonatal-perinatal medicine, pediatric and perinatal pathology, gynecologic pathology and cytopathology, and reproductive endocrinology and infertility. It is home to the nation’s first mother-baby perinatal psychiatric partial hospital, as well as the nation’s only fellowship program in obstetric medicine.

Women & Infants has been designated as a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence by the American College of Radiography; a Center of Excellence in Minimally Invasive Gynecology; a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence by the National Institutes of Health (NIH); and a Neonatal Resource Services Center of Excellence. It is one of the largest and most prestigious research facilities in high risk and normal obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics in the nation, and is a member of the National Cancer Institute’s Gynecologic Oncology Group and the Pelvic Floor Disorders Network.