Warm Connections: Integration of Infant Mental Health Services into WIC

• Published in: Community mental health journal Vol. 57; no. 6; pp. 1130 - 1141
• Main Authors: Klawetter, Susanne, Glaze, Kelly, Sward, Ashley, Frankel, Karen A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.08.2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Access; Child; Child & adolescent mental health; Child abuse & neglect; Child development; Child Health Services; Child, Preschool; Childhood; Childrearing practices; Children; Community and Environmental Psychology; Community health care; Community mental health services; Community-based programs; Early childhood education; Efficacy; Feasibility; Female; Health behavior; Health education; Health problems; Health Promotion; Health services; Health status; Humans; Infant; Infants; Integrated care; Low income groups; Maternal and infant welfare; Maternal characteristics; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mental depression; Mental health; Mental health care; Mental Health Services; Mothers; Nutrition; Nutrition programmes; Original Paper; Parents & parenting; Poverty; Pregnancy; Psychiatry; Psychological distress; WIC; Infant mental health; Perinatal mental health; Maternal depression; Maternal mental health; Integrated behavioral health
• ISSN: 0010-3853; 1573-2789
• DOI: 10.1007/s10597-020-00744-y

Low-income women experience disproportionately high rates of adverse maternal mental health outcomes, such as pregnancy-related depression, and have less access to behavioral health support. Adverse maternal mental health affects children through compromising bonding, impeding early childhood development, and increasing risks of child maltreatment. Integrated behavioral health approaches can improve access to behavioral health services by locating services in community-based settings routinely accessed by low-income families. Warm Connections is an innovative integrated behavioral health program delivered in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and rooted in an infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) framework. This exploratory study describes Warm Connections and provides evaluation results from its pilot implementation. Findings suggest Warm Connections may reduce distress and increase parenting efficacy among low-income mothers and support further research of this program’s feasibility.