RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Mother-baby units are innovative and important models of care that allow inpatient treatment of postpartum maternal mental disorders whilst preserving and promoting the attachment relationship with their young infants. OBJECTIVES: To report data across five public mother-baby units in Australia in order to explore similarities and distinguishing features of each model. METHOD: Each unit also provided 12 months of data on key characteristics of their unit. RESULTS: Despite the geographic differences, the diagnostic profiling, length of stay, and child protection involvement were similar across the units. CONCLUSIONS: Acute care for perinatal mental illness offered in public mother-baby units in Australia shows consistency across units, raising concerns for where such treatment is unavailable.
Assuntos
Transtornos Mentais/terapia , Serviços de Saúde Mental/organização & administração , Relações Mãe-Filho , Mães/psicologia , Unidade Hospitalar de Psiquiatria/organização & administração , Transtornos Puerperais/terapia , Adolescente , Adulto , Austrália , Feminino , Hospitalização , Humanos , Lactente , Recém-Nascido , Transtornos Mentais/psicologia , Serviços de Saúde Mental/normas , Assistência Perinatal/métodos , Período Pós-Parto , Gravidez , Unidade Hospitalar de Psiquiatria/normas , Transtornos Puerperais/psicologia , Adulto JovemRESUMO
A systematic review was carried out of all patients admitted to a specialised mother-baby unit who had significant phobic avoidance of their own infants. Demographic and diagnostic information on this group showed phobic avoidance to be common and associated with a range of psychiatric illnesses. There was a trend towards association with relatively prolonged admission. The relationship of such avoidance to attachment behaviour from mother to child is discussed. It is recommended that phobic symptoms warrant early recognition and treatment in their own right, simultaneously with treatment of the major illness.