Session: Maternal Mental Health, Structural Inequities, and Access to Services: Strengthening Social Impact through Collaborative Research with Mothers of Infants and Young Children (Society for Social Work and Research 29th Annual Conference)

The postpartum period and early years of parenting are a sensitive time for mothers and their young children. Maternal mental health conditions during this time - including depression, PTSD, and substance use disorders - can affect parenting, family relationships, and children's development. A central tenet of infant and early childhood mental health emphasizes that a parent's capacity to nurture a young child is dependent on the extent to which the parent herself is supported and nurtured (Weatherston & Tableman, 2015). Disparities in access to health care and other needed services, poverty, traumatic stress, discrimination and oppression contribute to a disproportionate mental health burden and inadequate support for mothers who are marginalized economically, racially, and socially. Social workers strive to address these drivers of health inequity and improve access to care to support families with young children and limit the intergenerational impact of maternal mental health conditions. The five papers in this symposium share a focus on mothers' experiences, health and well-being, and service needs while parenting children through infancy and early childhood. Collectively the five papers explore a variety of contexts that present unique challenges for mothers of young children, including recovery from substance use disorders, residing in a rural area, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, immigration and life near the U.S.-Mexico border, and experiencing postpartum depression. All papers use qualitative data collected directly from mothers of infants and young children; two papers also use data from other parents/caregivers or from service providers. Two of the studies use community-based participatory research methods, and all seek to strengthen social impact by collaborating with mothers of young children to produce meaningful research for those most affected by the issues being studied. The first paper explores the early postpartum period for mothers in recovery, identifying this period as a time of opportunity that is also fraught with challenges for women with opioid use disorders. The second paper explores rural mothers' challenges and strengths and the supports they perceive as needed to promote emotional health and well-being for themselves and their families. The third paper centers mothers' reflections on parenting an infant early in the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting how uncertainty and limited access to support through the first postpartum year continues to influence their mental health and parenting. The fourth paper adds to understanding of the experiences of service access and receipt for immigrant families with young children in the New Mexico borderlands, demonstrating a need to build capacity among providers to address families' complex needs. The fifth paper illuminates the referral process and identifies barriers and facilitators mothers encounter when accessing mental health services, following a positive screen for depression conducted by a home visitor. Collectively, this set of papers demonstrate the value of collaborative research for advancing understanding of socio-contextual factors that shape well-being and access to services for mothers of young children. These papers inform future directions for social work research and strategies for practitioners to improve access and cultural responsiveness of services for families with young children.