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Introduction of the health promoting project - Mental health counseling in perinatal period
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OÜ Medicum Tervishoiuteenused, Tallinn, Estonia
Publication date: 2023-10-24
Eur J Midwifery 2023;7(Supplement 1):A139
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ABSTRACT
The aim of the project is to ensure that pregnant women and their families have access to appropriate mental health counseling services to help them make informed decisions about pregnancy-related issues, simultaneously raising awareness of possible risks and being informed about support services and subsidies the state provides. One of the additional objectives of the project is to improve the availability of the service in rural areas.
The second strategic aim of the project was to provide mental health counseling services in at least 11 counties and 13 institutions during the project ( in Estonia we have 13 maternity departments/hospitals all around the country).
An additional aim of the project is to update the website and develop mental health counseling during perinatal period services to the online platform.
With the support of the project (in the period 01.01.2022-31.12.2022), 2016 persons (W=1285; M=731) received mental health counseling in the perinatal period on a total of 3455 occasions.
The age distribution of counseled men and women in year 2022 is similar to previous years, the largest number of applicants among women are in the age group 30-35 and 24-29 and among men, the largest number of converts is in the age group of 30-35.
The stakeholders of the project are healthcare professionals who work with the mentioned target group in practice - primarily midwives, gynecologists, family doctors/family nurses and pediatricians, but also social workers, child protection workers, etc.
According to the statistics collected in the framework of 2022, 25% were referred to mental health counseling by a gynecologist, 63% by a midwife, 10% by a family doctor, and in some cases by another specialist.
2022 we also carried out surveys of stakeholders, about the awareness and necessity of referral to the service. Based on this information, we plan for 2023. conduct service information training for health care providers.
We also asked for feedback from hundreds of service users. The mental health counseling during perinatal period awareness survey was conducted at the end of 2022, during which we collected feedback on the awareness of the counseling service, the need for the service, and the counseling experience. The survey was conducted in the period: November 15 - December 31, 2022. Answering the survey was anonymous and voluntary.
The poster would introduce the nature of the counselling service and present the summaries of both stakeholder and target group surveys.