Adolescent Maternal Lifecourse Outcomes: Implications from an Integrated Mental Health Services Approach

Abstract

Family intervention literature on adolescent parenting describes the pathways between outcomes for adolescent mothers and their children and the contexts of the pregnancy itself (e.g., poverty, low or no prenatal care, lower educational attainment). The aim of these descriptions is often to inform intervention designs that promote adaptive functioning for the child, the mother, and the dyad. Mental health services are an important component of many of these interventions; these services may be delivered by a clinician within the organization providing the intervention, or the organization may connect mothers with external mental health services in their communities. Using in-house clinicians rather than external providers may be beneficial by decreasing the high attrition rates common to this population. Although this service delivery approach is theoretically appealing, it has not been subject to rigorous empirical evaluation. In the current randomized study, we examine outcomes for teenage mothers based on two service delivery methods: Integrated Mental Health Services (IMHS) and the Standard of Care (SoC) which outsources clients’ mental health needs through community referrals. Information about the effectiveness of service delivery strategies can help program providers make decisions about how best to allocate limited funds to provide effective services.