O43 - Together we can co-design perinatal interprofessional psychosocial education for maternity clinicians

Abstract

This project addresses a significant problem. Each year in Australia, 300,000 women give birth and 20% will experience mental health morbidity with suicide reported as a leading cause of maternal death. Maternity care health professionals have a pivotal role in identifying and responding to women experiencing mental health concerns. Many clinicians however, lack skills to assess and respond appropriately and there are limited opportunities for training and skills practice in an interprofessional simulated environment recommended in national guidelines The aim of this research is to co-design, implement and evaluate a comprehensive ongoing education program for maternity health professionals related to psychosocial issues in the perinatal period. This presentation will discuss the co-design development phases of the project. Phases 1 & 2 used mixed methods gathering both qualitative and quantitative data. Including two workshops key stakeholders, maternity clinician needs assessment and focus groups. A scoping review identified gaps in lack of current perinatal psychosocial education and experiential learning opportunities in this space. A co-design team was formed with lived experience consumers, experts and clinicians with experience in psychosocial concerns to develop the program The two initial workshops key stakeholders (n=40), maternity clinician a survey (n=133) and focus groups (n=52) were conducted to identify the key learning priorities across a local health district in NSW. This data was used by a co-design team to develop the overall program content, modes and learning objectives for face-to face and online workshops. The principles of co-design Equal Partnership; Openness; Respect; Empathy; Design Together were displayed in this process working to create a safe interprofessional learning program. Together co-design with lived experience consumers and interprofessional experts by experience in the development phase can positively impact the co-design team and create better program outcomes for all.