64.2 TEACHING ADULT PSYCHIATRY RESIDENTS ABOUT PERINATAL MENTAL HEALTH

Abstract

The objective of this presentation is to address the knowledge gap in perinatal mental health (MH) in adult psychiatry training. Psychiatric residency programs rarely include formal training in women’s mental health issues across the life span, including during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Pregnant women frequently discontinue their mental health medications when learning they are pregnant—often at the suggestion of their psychiatrist or obstetrician, unfamiliar with the reproductive safety profile of commonly prescribed medications. This can lead to poorer outcomes of morbidity and mortality and higher rates of suicide and infanticide. Current robust evidence shows that exposing the developing fetus to untreated psychopathology may result in long-term adverse consequences for the child and the mother-baby dyad. These interconnections between perinatal MH and infant mental health can get lost in the “silos” of medical specialty training. This knowledge gap can result in critical errors in assessment, diagnosis, and intervention, and can contribute to poor outcomes for the mother, her child, and society in general. The presenters, a perinatal expert and a psychiatry trainee, use media-based educational content to demonstrate how an expert trains an adult psychiatry resident in important perinatal MH topics. The trainee explores the gaps in their understanding of perinatal MH, and the expert addresses these knowledge gaps through a lecture and videos following 2 pregnant women’s mental health experiences in a “telenovela” format. These dialogues offer compelling and relatable narratives that place didactic content in the social and cultural context of learners. This demonstration of media-based adult psychiatry training in perinatal MH and the related effects on infant development begins to fill an important knowledge gap for adult psychiatrists caring for pregnant women and their infants. The method of using interactive dialogue and video offers critical knowledge to clinicians treating this important population. There remains a significant knowledge gap in perinatal MH and infant mental health in adult psychiatrists. This gap can be recognized, understood, and filled by the development of innovative didactic and videotaped content that can be widely distributed across adult psychiatry residency programs.