The Latest Research, Commentary, And News From Health Affairs
Friday, October 15, 2021
Dear John,
Two articles in the October 2021 theme cluster on perinatal mental health focus on transforming systems and addressing racism.
Visions For Change
Through interviews with Black maternal and infant mental health stakeholders, Kay Matthews and coauthors identified key pathways to advance equitable and antiracist maternal mental health care:
educating
and training practitioners;
investing in the Black women mental health workforce;
investing in Black women–led community-based organizations;
valuing, honoring, and investing in community and traditional healing practices; and
promoting integrated care and shared decision making.
“Reimagining the maternal mental health care landscape is essential to addressing the Black maternal health crisis,” they conclude.
In a commentary, Vu-An Foster and coauthors present an alternative
vision for perinatal mental health that connects health and broader social systems.
An interdisciplinary and intergenerational team of authors employed personal and professional expertise to “disrupt underlying assumptions about psychosocial aspects of the perinatal experience and reimagine a new way forward to facilitate well-being in the perinatal period.”
They describe policy changes needed to address the effects of racism, poverty, lack of child care, inadequate postpartum support, and other types of structural violence on health.
These changes include diversifying the perinatal health workforce, universally expanding insurance coverage, providing universal paid leave and universal childcare, and more.
Aneesh Mehta and coauthors explain how a Care Delivery Network would provide coordinated, standardized, and equitable care to patients infected by a special pathogen.
Elevating Voices: Hispanic Heritage Month: In March 2021, Jorge Rodriguez and coauthors published a paper about disparities in telehealth use among California patients with limited English proficiency. “Patients with limited English proficiency had half the odds of using telehealth services compared with English-proficient patients,” they found.
Listen to our latest podcasts. On today’s episode of This Week, Rob Lott interviews Michael Lens about health and housing.
You are invited to join us onThursday, October 21,for the next meeting of theHealth Affairs Journal Club. Organized for researchers to keep
abreast of the latest developments in the field and to promote evidence-based practices, Journal Club features authors of an impactfulHealth Affairsstudy for an up-close look at research, methods, and
findings.
The focus of the October meeting is “Medicaid Expansion Associated With Some Improvements In Perinatal Mental Health,” a study based on survey data linking Medicaid expansion with positive mental health outcomes during pregnancy.
The session is intended to be a highly interactive, and participants will interact directly with the lead author, Claire Margerison, an associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Michigan State University.
Date: Thursday, October 21, 2021 Time: 3:00 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. (EDT) Place: Online details will be shared upon
registration
Zoning Policy Is Health Policy Listen to Health Affairs' Rob Lott interview Michael Lens from the University of California Los Angeles about his recent Health Policy Brief and how low-density zoning relates to health and health equity.
Health Affairs is the leading peer-reviewedjournalat the intersection
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Project HOPE is a global health and humanitarian relief organization that places power in the hands of local health care workers to save lives across the globe. Project HOPE has published Health Affairs since 1981.
