Background

Home visiting (HV) programs deliver services to an estimated 750,000 pregnant and parenting individuals in the United States. One initiative at many HV programs is integration of Mothers and Babies (MB), identified by the United States Preventive Services Task Force as an effective intervention for preventing perinatal depression. Addressing perinatal depression has great public health significance, as it occurs in 1 in 5 birthing individuals and is consistently associated negative maternal and child health outcomes.

Increasing sustainment of MB

In a two-year project funded by NIMH (R21MH133078, PI Darius Tandon), we examined how existing implementation strategies facilitate sustained MB delivery and client benefit, and developed and pilot tested a new set of implementation strategies with a focus on sustainment. We employed surveys and interviews to understand barriers and facilitators to home visitors sustaining MB implementation, then engaged home visitors in co-design workshops to refine implementation strategies. Analysis of this process is underway.

Adapting MB for specific populations

In a current project funded by NIMH (R34MH139788, MPIs Heather Risser & Darius Tandon), we are engaging parents of children with Down syndrome to adapt the content of MB. Through an iterative co-design process, we reviewed existing MB content, elicited parent critique and suggestions, then adapted MB to better meet the needs of Down syndrome families. Soon we will trial this new content, adapt it further, and deploy it in a clinical trial to evaluate its acceptability and effectiveness.