Finding and filling the gap in mental health services for pregnant women: A mental health assessment program.

摘要

Presently, standard prenatal care does not include assessment for mental health symptoms. Many women report experiences of anxiety, stress, fear, and difficulty in pain/discomfort management that go unaddressed by their prenatal care giver. Additionally, there is currently no standard for addressing any mental health or adjustment issues following delivery and in the early months of motherhood. It seems that the responsibility is placed on the woman to identify and assess any mental health symptoms that she may be experiencing and also to judge the severity of those symptoms and seek out treatment on her own. Limited studies have been conducted with the intention of using mindfulness meditation to improve mental well-being and ability to better manage pain and discomforts during the prenatal period. An effective mindfulness intervention could assist women in managing the fear and anxiety associated with pregnancy and labor and may be valuable in helping to decrease rates of elective surgical births and promote healthy adjustment following delivery. This paper proposes a new program to improve the current standard of care for assessing mental health symptoms in pregnant women and following through with an effective, non-medical, and non-stigmatized treatment option.