Please confirm that you would like to log out of Medscape. If you log out, you will be required to enter your username and password the next time you visit.Katherine A. Craemer, MPH Lauren Sayah, MPH Jennifer Duffecy, PhD Stacie E. Geller, PhD Pauline M. Maki, PhD There is increasing recognition in primary care that major depressive disorder often co-occurs with other mental health conditions.
Addressing perinatal mental health is critical because untreated mental health conditions during the perinatal period can cause long-term adverse psychiatric and medical outcomes for the birthing person, the baby, and the family. For many patients, the perinatal period is the first time they are screened for any mental health disorder; typically, they are screened solely for depression. Screening alone can have a positive impact on perinatal mental health. In fact, the USPSTF found that programs to screen perinatal patients, with or without treatment-related support, resulted in a 2%-9% absolute reduction in depression prevalence.
The main limitation of this more comprehensive screening is that it takes about 10 minutes per patient. However, CAT-MH is self-administered and can be done in the waiting room or on a mobile device prior to a clinic visit. Further, rural residing perinatal patients are an underserved population that need more resources and screening. Despite an on-site behavioral specialist at the rural clinic, Craemer et al