Empathy in Action: Understanding the Impact of Perinatal Social Workers

Who Is a Perinatal Social Worker?

A perinatal social worker is a person who specializes in focusing on the psychosocial issues that take place from the pre-pregnancy period to the year after childbirth. Their psychosocial services extend to families related to diagnosing a medical condition for the infant, mother, or both.

The perinatal social worker's patient can be the mother, the infant, or the child. The perinatal social workers may extend their psychosocial services to the families even in cases where there is no medical diagnosis but social support is needed. The perinatal social worker's role includes case management, clinical social work practice, and generalist social work practice. A perinatal social worker works in both community settings and hospitals.

What Are the Issues Addressed by a Perinatal Social Worker?

The issues addressed by a perinatal social worker include:

• Complicated and high-risk pregnancies.

• Premature birth.

• Pregnant-parenting adolescent.

• Maternal mental health issues.

• Substance abuse.

• Abortion.

• Homelessness.

• Domestic violence.

• Surrogacy.

• Infertility.

• Grief or loss.

• Child abuse, neglect, and foster care.

• Adoption.

• Fetal diagnosis.

• Grief or loss.

A family may be going through one or more of the above issues during medical care. A perinatal social worker may work in an inpatient or outpatient hospital setting.

They work in the following settings:

• Maternity units.

• Newborn nurseries.

• Newborn intensive care unit.

• Fetal diagnosis and treatment center.

• Emergency department.

• Genetics department.

• Antepartum unit.

• Pediatric offices.

• Infertility centers.

• Pediatric intensive care unit.

• Pediatric advanced care.

• Perinatal evaluation centers.

• Mental health centers.

• Obstretic-gynecological units.

• Transplant.

• Surgical.

• Prenatal drug cessation program.

What Does a Perinatal Social Worker Do?

The duties of a perinatal social worker include:

• Assists in creating a healthy parent-child relationship.

• Work with families and women and assess their challenges as they approach childbearing.

• Access community support groups.

• Process complex information related to pregnancy and neonates.

• Help the families cope with grief in cases of perinatal loss like stillbirth, miscarriage, or neonatal death.

• Addressing their social, physical, and mental health concerns assists their clients during the perinatal period. The assistance provided includes:

• Addressing symptoms of perinatal anxiety and depression.

• Facilitate communication with health care professionals.

• Assists with breastfeeding in the postpartum period.

• Support mothers in their desired delivery approach.

• Enhances the perinatal health outcome by providing communal support and support for perinatal health practices.

• They provide individual-centered, culturally competent care practices.

• Educate doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals on best practices for individual-centered care.

• Ensures all patients have access to perinatal health care and that the care provided is not subject to stigmatization and discrimination.

• Enhance healthcare equity, which is related to the social determinants of health.

What Is the Role of a Perinatal Social Worker in Perinatal Mental Health?

The perinatal period is not the same for everyone. Perinatal mental health is a collective term for mental health during the perinatal period, from pregnancy to one year after childbirth. Maternal mental health is often neglected. Perinatal psychiatric issues can affect the mother, the infant, and their families in several ways.

Some of these include:

• Impaired mother-infant bonding.

• Lack of parenting skills.

• Caregiver burden.

• Difficulties with daily activities.

• Affect familial relationships.

• Financial issues.

Some may develop psychiatric complications as a result of psychosocial and biological issues. Perinatal mental health issues affect the family as a whole. These perinatal mental health issues can even lead to suboptimal child development. The management of perinatal mental health issues includes a team of psychologists, psychiatrists, nurses, and social workers.

Along with other healthcare providers, the perinatal social worker provides preventive, curative, promotive, and rehabilitative interventions in perinatal mental health settings. Such interventions can be carried out at the individual, group, community, marital, or familial levels.

These interventions include:

• Psychotherapy or individual counseling.

• Group psychoeducation programs for spouses, family members, and the mother.

• Parenting education.

• Developmental screening for infants.

• Contraception counseling.

• Child protection services.

• Rehabilitation services.

• Skills training.

• Relapse prevention.

• Community awareness.

Perinatal social workers play an important role by focusing on mother-infant bonding and the partner's involvement in maternal care.

What Is the Role of a Perinatal Social Worker in Establishing Social Justice?

Perinatal health equity can be fully attained only by acknowledging the underlying predictors of inequity. They should be well aware of the history of discrimination, racism, and bias, which play a role in health equity. Women’s exposure to discrimination and chronic racism has affected Native American and African families for generations.

The myth of meritocracy often considers health as a privilege earned or lost rather than a basic human right. As a result of discrimination, colored individuals and low-income communities are affected. In some regions, women experience stigma linked to mental health issues like reproductive health practices and substance use behavior, which further affects their quality of care.

The perinatal healthcare inequity due to racism and the myth of meritocracy needs to be addressed. Social work prioritizes issues like equitable health outcomes, healthy child development, and linguistic and cultural care and is suited to join the reproductive justice movement. The perinatal social workers enter into active communication with their clients, which helps them understand the individual’s lived experiences and how they relate to their well-being and health. This active communication helps the perinatal social worker identify the issues that hinder optimal health care.

Conclusion

A perinatal social worker addresses psychosocial issues during the perinatal period. Their service is not limited to the mother, the infant, and their families. They play an important role in addressing perinatal mental health issues, too. They play an important role in managing perinatal mental health issues, including a team of nurses, psychologists, psychiatrists, and perinatal social workers. They also play an important role in the reproductive justice movement by addressing the social determinants of health.