Addressing Health-Related Social Needs and Mental Health Needs in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: Exploring Challenges and the Potential of Technology

Addressing Health-Related Social Needs and Mental Health Needs in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: Exploring Challenges and the Potential of Technology

Unaddressed health-related social needs (HRSNs) and parental mental health needs in an infant's environment can negatively affect their health outcomes. This study examines the challenges and potential technological solutions for addressing these needs in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU)...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of environmental research and public health Vol. 20; no. 24; p. 7161
Main Authors: van de Kamp, Eline, Ma, Jasmin, Monangi, Nagendra, Tsui, Fuchiang Rich, Jani, Shilpa G, Kim, Jae H, Kahn, Robert S, Wang, C Jason
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 09-12-2023
Subjects:
Babies
Data collection
Families & family life
Health needs
Health services
Hospitals
Infants
Intensive care
Interviews
Medical screening
Medical technology
Mental disorders
Mental health
Parents & parenting
Post traumatic stress disorder
Privacy
Referrals
Social workers
Teams
United States > US
social determinants of health
infant health
parental mental health
neonatal intensive care unit
health-related social needs
mobile health technology
social work
infant development
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Summary:Unaddressed health-related social needs (HRSNs) and parental mental health needs in an infant's environment can negatively affect their health outcomes. This study examines the challenges and potential technological solutions for addressing these needs in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) setting and beyond. In all, 22 semistructured interviews were conducted with members of the NICU care team and other relevant stakeholders, based on an interpretive description approach. The participants were selected from three safety net hospitals in the U.S. with level IV NICUs. The challenges identified include navigating the multitude of burdens families in the NICU experience, resource constraints within and beyond the health system, a lack of streamlined or consistent processes, no closed-loop referrals to track status and outcomes, and gaps in support postdischarge. Opportunities for leveraging technology to facilitate screening and referral include automating screening, initiating risk-based referrals, using remote check-ins, facilitating resource navigation, tracking referrals, and providing language support. However, technological implementations should avoid perpetuating disparities and consider potential privacy or data-sharing concerns. Although advances in technological health tools alone cannot address all the challenges, they have the potential to offer dynamic tools to support the healthcare setting in identifying and addressing the unique needs and circumstances of each family in the NICU.
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ISSN:1660-4601
1661-7827
1660-4601
DOI:10.3390/ijerph20247161