Integrating Behavioral Health Risk Assessment into Centralized Intake for Maternal and Child Health Services

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Maternal and Child Health
• Behavioral Health

Background:

• Promoting women's health around pregnancy necessitates early, nonstigmatizing identification of behavioral health risks.
• Effective interventions require timely linkage to community support and specialized services.
• Existing healthcare systems often lack integrated approaches for comprehensive behavioral health screening.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe an integrated approach to behavioral health risk screening within centralized intake for maternal and child health home visiting programs.
• To evaluate the feasibility and reception of a social work-informed, community-designed screening, brief intervention, and service linkage model.
• To target communities at high risk for fetal and infant mortality.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of Behavioral Health Integrated Centralized Intake (BHICI) at the point of first healthcare contact.
• Holistic risk screening for behavioral health issues including depression, substance use, smoking, and interpersonal violence.
• Guided referral for home visiting support and specialized mental health interventions.

Main Results:

• Women enrolled in the study demonstrated receptiveness to holistic risk screening.
• Participants were open to guided referrals for both home visiting support and specialized mental health interventions.
• The integrated approach facilitated linkage to necessary community and specialized services.

Conclusions:

• An integrated, social work-informed centralized intake model is effective for identifying and addressing behavioral health risks in pregnant women.
• This approach enhances community health promotion by providing strengths-based, holistic support.
• The findings support the expansion of such integrated models in maternal and child health programs.