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PACEs in Maternal Health

So how do you start to think and talk about ACEs and Maternal Mental Health?

Give them an info graphic to show the connection between toxic stress and health outcomes for moms and babies?

  • Check out the attached 3 handouts!

 

Have some talking points ready to get the conversation started with prenatal care staff?

 

  • ACEs is a tool that can help determine if a woman's pregnancy is higher or lower risk for poor birthoutcomes

 

  • ACEs is not just another screening tool, it's THE INTERVENTION to help mom understand connect her past with present health behaviors (i.e. smoking, drug use, depressive behaviors)

 

  • ACEs helps expand the OB History. It will engage mom in giving you more than just her medical history. Childhood trauma can impact birth outcomes as much as a past miscarriage or abnormal pap.

 

  • Not all mothers who have experience adverse childhood events (ACEs) are in crisis and need intervention.

 

Let's start talking....what would you say? What would you ask? 

 

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Comments (2)

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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 I'd be following in the office and I saw huge differences in bonding w/the baby but also with satisfaction w/my role as their pedi! This can work very well - the doc just has to be non-judge mental and knowledgeable about trauma...

Great post Anna!

 

Additional talking point for consideration:

  • ACEs, trauma, and resilience is not an additional thing to add to the plate. It IS the plate.
  • Is  it ethical to screen for ACEs without providing patients/client with health education on ACEs, trauma, and the ways in which resilience can buffer the effects of adversity?
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