Tagged With "higher risk of infection"
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California unveils ACEs Aware initiative to screen for trauma
Will screening for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in California be mandatory? No, but it’s recommended. Will there be training for physicians and staff on how to screen? Yes. Who will be reimbursed for screening patients in California? Physicians who serve patients in the state’s Medi-Cal program — for now. For more answers to these and other questions that surfaced during a Dec. 4 webinar introducing Californians to a new statewide initiative, read on. Come January 1, California will...
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Call for Abstracts for NCHDV 2020 conference
The National Conference on Health and Domestic Violence (NCHDV) seeks submissions that highlight research reports, practice innovations, advocacy initiatives, educational advances, and/or community programs that address one or more aspects related to domestic/sexual violence, other forms of violence, and health. The Call for Abstracts (CFA) invites leaders working in the fields of health and domestic/sexual violence to present their work at the 2020 Conference. Submission Deadline: Monday,...
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Child and Maternal Health in Rural Areas Lags the Nation, Highlighting Barriers to Access [PEW]
By Stacey Millett, February 25, 2020, for PEW Trusts Cross-sector solutions needed to address complex challenges One in five Americans lives in a rural area, including about 18 million women of reproductive age, but key indicators, including mortality figures, show that the health of mothers and children in these communities lags behind that of their urban peers and is worsening. Nationwide, child mortality rates have declined over the past decade, but recent research shows that improvement...
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CMS Issue Brief: Improving Access to Maternal Health Care in Rural Communities
In an ideal maternal health system, all women would have access to comprehensive, seamless medical care with links to behavioral, economic, and social supports. Additionally, they would be engaged with this system before, during, and after pregnancy. Across the United States, many women are not receiving care in this ideal system, and women in rural communities face unique challenges that make it harder for them to reach this ideal or any care at all in some cases. Because maternal health...
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Consequences of Military Sexual Trauma for Perinatal Mental Health: How Do We Improve Care for Pregnant Veterans with a History of Sexual Trauma?
Sharing our recent editorial which includes a call for TIC in maternity care: "Nevertheless, there are ways in which VA may be able to augment the maternity care pregnant veterans receive to empower and facilitate more trauma-informed approaches to obstetric care. These include investing in programs to ensure peer support, possibly through use of mobile health technology; facilitating collaboration with maternity care providers through provision of handheld/electronic maternity records...
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Depression in pregnancy increases risk of mental health problems in children [ScienceDaily.com]
Depression in pregnancy increases the risk of behavioural and emotional problems in children, says a new review published in The Lancet Psychiatry. The authors of the review, which focused mainly on low and middle income countries, call for urgent interventions for mothers and children. Depression in pregnancy is thought to affect up to one in five women globally in the late stages of pregnancy and shortly after birth. It is characterised by low mood and feelings of hopelessness, and is...
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Disparities In Access To Health Care For Women
Disparities in access to health care and outcomes are strikingly different between Blacks and white women, and policy changes being made in Washington will have enormous impacts on women's health . Black women have a much higher risk of pregnancy related complications and deaths a 12 fold higher than white women in New York City, for example. Some is due to poverty and lack knowledge about and access to healthy diets and good care. Read the full article written by Judy Stone: ...
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Doulas & Covid-19: A toolkit for doulas (DONA International)
Please the attached toolkit for more information. From the toolkit: Best practices when working with clients Given how new this virus is, we currently have very little data on how it might affect pregnant people and newborns. Guidelines from the CDC outline recommendations for how to support pregnant and laboring people with Coronavirus. (3) There is currently no evidence that the virus is spread from mother to baby in utero, or that it is transmitted in human milk. (4)
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Employer Behavioral Health Programs Need Opioid, Suicide Focus [Health Payer Intelligence]
Most employers plan to highlight behavioral and mental health in the future, but they will need to address opioid abuse and suicide to succeed. April 02, 2019 - Seventy percent of employers are either currently addressing or plan to address behavioral health over the next few years, according to a recent survey from Willis Towers Watson, but many of these initiatives fail to focus strongly on opioid abuse and suicide prevention. Programs that do not offer enough support for employees at risk...
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Fathers: Powerful Allies for Maternal and Child Health [nichq.org]
NICHQ . “Maternal and child health programs and professionals have become increasingly more cognizant of how fathers, specifically, affect their children’s health and development,” says NICHQ President and CEO Scott D. Berns, MD, MPH, FAAP. “Moving this conversation forward, and highlighting strategies that support father engagement and involvement, is a critical opportunity to improve children’s health outcomes in the decades to come. This is not because fathers matter more than any other...
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From Treatment to Healing: Inquiry and Response to Recent and Past Trauma in Adult Health Care [Institute of Women's Health]
Abstract: In 2015, a national working group developed and published a conceptual framework for trauma-informed primary care (Machtinger, Cuca, Khanna, Dawson-Rose, & Kimberg, 2015). Since that publication, there has been increasing recognition that childhood and adult trauma underlie and perpetuate many physical and behavioral health conditions seen in health care settings and that addressing trauma could fundamentally improve the experience and efficacy of care for both patients and...
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Healing From Childhood Trauma — AVAIYA University online course, July 29 - Aug. 6
AVAIYA University is hosting a free online class, Healing From Childhood Trauma, July 29 - August 6, that features 18 physicians, therapists, psychologists & more who share life-changing strategies to heal from childhood trauma. Featured in the course are Dr. Dan Siegel on "Trauma & Mindfulness", Dr. Jamie Marich on "Healing the Wounds of Childhood Trauma", and Ann Kelley and Sue Marriott on "U nderstanding Unresolved Attachment to Heal From Loss & Trauma." I'm doing a session on...
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Helping women have a better birth and breastfeeding experience during COVID
We at Better Beginnings are actively working to help women have a better birth and breastfeeding experience. Our virtual doulas are available everyday to support women one-to-one through their cell phones. This service is free to the mother call 415-663-6852. We also have taken the Breastfeeding Cafes virtual and continue to see women one on one for serious problems on Mondays by appointment (this requires pre-screening for risk factors). Women need to know their rights during this pandemic...
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Home Gun Safety Queries in Well-Child Visits [jamanetwork.com]
By Carole H. Stipelman, Greg Stoddard, Kyle Bata, et al., JAMA Pediatrics, October 28, 2019 Firearms are a leading cause of death in US children, and the rate of suicide by firearms in people aged 10 to 19 years has increased since 2008.1 In the United States, 4.6 million children (approximately 7%) live in households with at least 1 gun that is stored loaded and unlocked.2 Safe storage of guns and ammunition may decrease the occurrence of self-inflicted or unintentional firearm injury to...
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Re: How a famous hospital turned around its low rate of screening moms for depression [CenterForHealthJournalism.org]
I commend Cedars Sinai for the incredible work they are doing and we can all learn from successful models that screen, refer, diagnose and link to services. We need to learn from them and look closely at all the pieces they put in place to make it work because it can work! BUT.... One of my biggest concerns about proposed legislation which requires an unfunded mandate for screening is this...There has been and continues to be a HUGE shortage in system capacity to refer, diagnosis, treat and...
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Re: So how do you start to think and talk about ACEs and Maternal Mental Health?
I like demonstrating serve and return interaction. If the mom can get a sense of the joys of attaching with the baby that can be very useful. This is a reason I was against some of our policies like checking glucose in an asymptomatic baby LGA (you'd need to remove the baby from the mother- if I decide to cover our hospitals call esp OB, I've already started to put thogether a plan for ACEs screening and aces 101 edu. I did this before on my own in the pts I saw that were at risk and that...
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4th Annual Bay Area Maternal Mental Health Conference
By UCSF Continuing Medical Education, December 12, 2019 This is the fourth annual conference here in the Bay Area focusing on maternal mental health and well-being, with speakers from throughout the area covering important topics that will improve the care our patients are receiving. We welcome anyone with a personal or professional interest in maternal mental health. Participants will: Review the state of the current opioid crisis in this country and learn about tools to help identity...
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A call to action for public health nurses during the COVID‐19 pandemic (Wiley Online Library)
Joyce K. Edmonds PhD, MPH, RN , Shawn M. Kneipp PhD , Lisa Campbell DNP . First published: 12 April 2020. https://doi.org/10.1111/phn.12733 Public health nurses (PHNs) are on the frontline of the public health crisis the world now knows as the COVID‐19 pandemic. They serve on mobile strike teams investigating case‐contacts, deliver education on self‐isolation and quarantine through hotlines and home visits, and interpret the rapidly shifting guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and...
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A Conversation with Nadine Burke Harris: How Should Pediatricians Address Childhood Adversity?
Pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris is a masterful storyteller. I learned in a conversation with her at Wheelock College before her presentation for the Brookline, MA organization Steps to Success , that before she decided to become doctor, Dr. Burke Harris wanted to be an author. Only after the smashing success of her TED talk: How childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime , when she was approached by a literary agent, did she find her way to writing. Her newly released book The...
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A Wakeup Call About Children's Sleep and What To Do About It [psychologytoday.com]
By Robyn Koslowitz, Psychology Today, November 3, 2019 Only half of children in the United States routinely get enough sleep each night, and this has significant effects on their academic performance and social, and emotional well-being. A comprehensive study analyzed responses from parents or caregivers of 49,050 children, 6 to 17 years old, who were part of the 2016-2017 cohort of the National Survey of Children’s Health. They were queried about how many nights of sleep a randomly selected...
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ACEs Research Corner — November 2019
[Editor's note: Dr. Harise Stein at Stanford University edits a web site -- abuseresearch.info -- that focuses on the health effects of abuse, and includes research articles on ACEs. Every month, she's posting the summaries of the abstracts and links to research articles that address only ACEs. Thank you, Harise!! -- Jane Stevens] Jackson DB, Chilton M, Johnson KR, Vaughn MG. Adverse Childhood Experiences and Household Food Insecurity. Am J Prev Med. 2019 Nov;57(5):667-674. PMID: 31522923...
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Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study: Beyond Screening in Pediatrics
The evidence is clear. When bad things happen to us as young children, we are at significantly increased risk for not only mental health problems, but also a wide range of physical health problems including asthma, heart disease, and even early death. These "bad things" all involve disruptions in caregiving relationships. A national movement directed at screening for ACEs in pediatric practices has emerged from this work. My suggestion that the implication of the Adverse Childhood...
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All hands on deck (from a distance): remote care for traumatized moms and babies
Dear colleague, Coronavirus is forcing providers and allied professionals serving mothers and babies to make unprecedented decisions. Should pregnant women needing care go through our hospital quarantine entrance? Should moms deliver without partners, family or doulas present? Be sent home early before key screenings or jaundice treatment are completed? To make matters worse, our systems aren't ready for basic remote care of mothers and infants now "socially distanced". Prenatal, post-partum...
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An Insurance Penalty From Postpartum Depression [NYTimes.com]
In January, a government-appointed panel recommended that all pregnant women and new mothers be screened for depression . Public health advocates rejoiced, as did untold numbers of women who had not known that maternal mental illness even existed before it hit them like a freight train. But the panel did not mention one possible consequence of a diagnosis: Life and disability insurance providers have sometimes penalized women with these mental illnesses by charging them more money, excluding...
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Annabelle Timset: We’ve been ignoring the problem of dads and depression for decades—at a huge cost to kids
Just as dads who take an active role in their children’s lives can help kids reach their full potential, less engaged dads can harm their kids’ development. In some cases, the underlying cause of that lack of engagement may be undiagnosed depression. Depressed dads are more likely to spank their kids . They’re also less likely to read to them, which may hamper their child’s cognitive development and literacy skills. And prior studies have shown that the children of depressed fathers have an...
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Assembly Appropriations Committee Advances Maternal Health Bills that Address Disparities in NJ Maternal Mortality Rates [Insider NJ]
Assembly Appropriations Committee Advances Maternal Health Bills that Address Disparities in NJ Maternal Mortality Rates (TRENTON) – As part of a statewide effort to address disparities in maternal mortality rates between African-American and white women, and to reverse the trend that ranks New Jersey 47 th among the states in maternal mortality with 37.3 deaths per 100,000 live births, a maternal health package introduced last month continues to advance in the Assembly with 16 measures...
Comment
Re: Doulas & Covid-19: A toolkit for doulas (DONA International)
We at Better Beginnings are actively working to help women have a better birth and breastfeeding experience. Our virtual doulas are available everyday to support women one to one through their cell phones. This service is free to the mother. 415-663-6852. We also have taken the Breastfeeding Cafes virtual and continue to see women one on one for serious problems on Mondays by appointment (this requires pre-screening for risk factors). Women need to know their rights during this pandemic so...
Comment
Re: Learning To Care For My Newborn Was A Humbling Experience [npr.org]
Becoming a parent is a humbling experience - so much more incredible and complicated than I ever imagined. New parents need a circle of support - as often happens in other countries. And, in the US we need maternity leave policies that support families. Families that feel supported report feeling less stressed. Reduced stress is linked to decreased risk for child abuse. Lovingly caring for an infant that is awake and crying for nearly 48 hours is stressful! let's find ways to support...
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Re: When you don't fall in love with your newborn [ABC Life]
Thanks for sharing this heart wrenching story and how common this is so that mothers can find some sense of hope, know how often it happens, and know it's not their fault. I would add a more specific view, however, which is that this mom is expressing what some refer to as a bonding disruption - a disconnection that happens in part because of one or more difficult, adverse events that happened during labor (all the medications, the brutal forceps, long labor, worry about his fetal distress...
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Re: A community-based approach to supporting substance exposed newborns and their families
Hi Alex, Centering Pregnancy is the model you are referencing, and there is tremendous evidence of the benefits for families, and fiscally for healthcare organizations. HERE is an example. Centering empowers patients, strengthens patient-provider relationships, and builds communities through these three main components: health assessment, and interactive learning community building. Additionally, there is a Centering Pediatrics model that is similar. HERE is more information. This LINK...
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The Federal Military Moms’ Mental Health Assessment Act Is Introduced
By Crystal McAuley, May 28, 2020, 2020 MOM. 2020 Mom is proud to support the ‘‘ Military Moms’ Mental Health Assessment Act ’’ (“The Act”) which was introduced last week by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Tim Kaine (D-VA). The Act will require the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct a study of prenatal and postpartum mental health conditions among members of the Armed Forces and their dependents. The Bill Recognizes: The bill cites 2018 birth stats within the Armed...
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Pediatric Mental Health Care Must Be Family Mental Health Care [jamanetwork.com]
By Matthew G. Biel, Michael H. Tang, Barry Zuckerman, JAMA Pediatrics, April 6, 2020 Pediatric mental health (MH) concerns, including depression, anxiety, loneliness and social isolation, and suicide, have increased markedly in the last decade and are critical factors associated with population health. While effective interventions for these conditions have been developed and pediatric health care professionals increasingly address MH concerns as a central component of clinical practice, our...
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Psychological impact of COVID-19 quarantine measures in northeastern Italy on mothers in the immediate postpartum period (Int J Gynsecol Obstet)
Zanardo V, Manghina V, Giliberti L, Vettore M, Severino L, Straface G. Psychological impact of COVID-19 quarantine measures in northeastern Italy on mothers in the immediate postpartum period. Int J Gynaecol Obstet . 2020;150(2):184-188. doi:10.1002/ijgo.13249 Abstract Objective: To explore whether quarantine measures and hospital containment policies among women giving birth in a COVID-19 "hotspot" area in northeastern Italy enhanced psycho-emotional distress in the immediate postpartum...
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ACEs and Gynecological Problems - A Conversation Starter
Gynecological problems as a result of ACEs, and particularly of Childhood Sexual Abuse (CSA), are rarely discussed in books and articles about the ACEs. The author would like to see that issue become part of the ACEs conversation.
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ACEs research roundup: ACEs, racism, promoting equity and resilience
Racial /Ethnic Disparities in Health Care Access Are Associated with Adverse Childhood Experiences , Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Racism , Psycho-Social Stress, and Health-related Quality of Life International Journal of Maternal Child Health and AIDS Promoting equity and resilience: Wellness navigators' role in addressing adverse childhood experiences American Psychological Association Co‐Occurring Youth Profiles of Adverse Childhood Experiences and Protective Factors:...
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Maternal Depression in Early Childhood and Developmental Vulnerability at School Entry [pediatircs.aappublications.org]
By Elizabeth Wall-Wieler, Leslie L. Roos, and Ian H. Gotlib, Pediatrics, August 2020 OBJECTIVES: To assess the relation between exposure to maternal depression before age 5 and 5 domains of developmental vulnerability at school entry, overall, and by age at exposure. METHODS: This cohort study included all children born in Manitoba, Canada, who completed the Early Development Instrument between 2005 and 2016 (N = 52 103). Maternal depression was defined by using physician visits,...
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COVID-19: Trauma-Informed Perinatal Care and Maternal Health [psychologytoday.com]
By Ann Diamond Weinstein, Psychology Today, September 28, 2020 The experience of life during the pandemic and the impact of COVID-19 guidelines for perinatal care have changed the maternal-fetal experience of pregnancy and birth, as well as the maternal-infant experience during the postnatal period. The neuroception (1) of danger and the potential threat to one’s own life and that of loved ones has been sustained since the magnitude and lethalness of the pandemic was fully appreciated.
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The importance of care coordination [medcitynews.com]
By Brooke Sabia, MedCity News, September 30, 2020 Some may ask the question, “What does a care coordinator do for my personal well-being?” There is no short answer as to what a patient can benefit from by receiving assistance from a care coordinator. Their job is to connect with high-risk individuals to uncover and identify needs in a patient-centered manner and in a way that takes into account whether the patient has endured any trauma. When people think of care coordination, they typically...
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NOW AVAILABLE ON DEMAND: The Repressed Role of Adverse Childhood Experiences in Adult Well-Being, Disease and Social Functioning: Turning Gold into Lead (Dr. Vincent J. Felitti) [avahealth.org]
The ACE Study reveals how typically unrecognized adverse childhood experiences are not only common, but causally underlie a number of the most common causes of adult social malfunction, biomedical disease, and premature death. Moreover, it enables one to see that the Public Health Problem is often an individual’s attempted Solution to childhood experiences about which we keep ourselves unaware. A renowned physician and researcher, Dr. Vincent J. Felitti is one of the world’s foremost experts...
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Report on WIC Role in Reducing Maternal Mortality (California WIC Association)
CWA Flash Newsletter - October 13, 2020 (Blue text=hyperlinks) Report on WIC Role in Reducing Maternal Mortality The National WIC Association released a report titled " The Role of WIC in Reducing Maternal Mortality ." NWA’s Maternal Mortality Task Force created the report to consider ways in which maternal mortality is addressed and discussed with program participants throughout the WIC appointment, as well as explore opportunities for additional focus on the topic. The report highlights...
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Burnout From an Organizational Perspective [ssir.org]
Instead of pressuring already-stressed individuals to fix themselves, true wellness requires organization-level interventions. By Leah Weiss Oct. 20, 2020 The term “burnout” first came into use in the early 1970s in the context of air traffic control, after an increase in human error-precipitated collisions was linked to frustrations with increased traffic, poor human-machine interfaces, and the general monotony of the work. Described by the WHO as “resulting from chronic workplace stress...
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New California preventive mental health coverage puts ACEs science front and center
A mother, frantic with worry, brought her newborn in for a checkup at the pediatric clinic at San Francisco General Hospital. But there wasn’t anything wrong with the baby. And over the next several months, no amount of reassurance could convince the mom that her child was eating, sleeping and growing just fine. If anything, the mother’s worry led to behavior that raised alarm bells for her health care providers. Dr. Kate Margolis “[The family] wasn’t returning calls from the provider, and...
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Effects of prenatal mindfulness-based childbirth education on child-bearers' trajectories of distress: a randomized control trial (BMC Pregnancy Childbirth)
BMC Pregnancy Childbirth . 2020; 20: 623. Published online 2020 Oct 15. doi: 10.1186/s12884-020-03318-8 . Abstract Background: The perinatal period is a time of immense change, which can be a period of stress and vulnerability for mental health difficulties. Mindfulness-based interventions have shown promise for reducing distress, but further research is needed to identify long-term effects and moderators of mindfulness training in the perinatal period. Methods: The current study used data...
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Maternal Mental Health
Like many of you, I’m a bit out of sorts and somewhat disoriented right now. Our collective mental health is deteriorating during Covid-19. Recent stats report an increase from 20-40% of adults struggling with mental illness since the advent of the pandemic. Maternal mental health is particularly at risk. Helping children with distance learning, navigating exposure to the news, trying to keep life a bit “normal”, keeping family members fed and supplied, juggling career and income loss, all...
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Low levels of choline in pregnant Black American women associated with higher levels of stress (Mirage News)
NOVEMBER 17, 2020 5:08 AM AEDT Women with lower levels of choline delivered prematurely by 2 weeks, increasing risk of later mental health problems for their offspring. Researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campu s have found that many pregnant Black Americans have low levels of choline, an essential nutrient that aids in prenatal brain development. Stress caused by institutional racism may play a role. The study, out now in Schizophrenia Bulletin , also found that these...
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8 Categories of Adversity That Shape Health: Adverse Babyhood Experiences (ABEs), ACEs, and More
When I assisted women and families during pregnancy, labor and birth as a family doctor, I often felt concern that the interventions commonly used, while potentially life saving, influenced outcomes in ways that could be negative. I've since learned about a vast body of evidence that helps identify risk and offers tools to help recognize potential risk and effects so we can improve prevention and treatment. "ABEs" are one of 7 categories of adversity I add to ACEs that I wish I'd known about.
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Janine Altamirano
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