About 15 percent of all mothers in Florida report experiencing depression during pregnancy or after childbirth, but fewer than 20 percent of mothers seek or have access to professional help. Much of the problem lies in the lack of routine screening by prenatal care providers.
A new grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration aims to improve maternal mental health outcomes by increasing screening rates and patient access to treatment and resources. Florida is one of seven states to receive the grant, which was awarded to the Florida Department of Health.
The FDOH partnered with FSU College of Medicine Professor and Vice Chair for Research Heather Flynn as principal investigator on the $3.25 million grant. She received $2 million from the agency to help develop a sustainable screening and treatment model to address unmet maternal mental health needs across the state.
“This is a huge opportunity for Florida to start really addressing perinatal mental health and substance abuse, which we currently don’t really do at all in any systematic way throughout the state,” Flynn said. “Florida has the third largest birth rate in the nation, so this can have a tremendous impact on maternal mental health outcomes in the U.S.”
For the next five years, she’ll work with the FDOH and Florida Maternal Mental Health Collaborative to improve perinatal depression detection, treatment, engagement and outcomes.
“The number of women who never get detected or treated during a pregnancy is striking given that the majority of them will see a doctor at some point during their prenatal care,” Flynn said.
The project aims to achieve 100 percent screening rates for perinatal mental health and behavioral health in three targeted regions in North Florida.
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