Addressing Health-Related Social Needs and Mental Health Needs in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: Exploring Challenges and the Potential of Technology

Eline van de Kamp, Jasmin Ma, Nagendra Monangi, Fuchiang Rich Tsui, Shilpa G. Jani, Jae H. Kim, Robert S. Kahn and C. Jason Wang ()
Additional contact information
Eline van de Kamp: Athena Institute, Faculty of Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Jasmin Ma: Center for Policy, Outcomes, and Prevention, Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Nagendra Monangi: Division of Neonatology, Perinatal Institute, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
Fuchiang Rich Tsui: Tsui Laboratory, Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19146, USA
Shilpa G. Jani: Center for Policy, Outcomes, and Prevention, Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Jae H. Kim: Division of Neonatology, Perinatal Institute, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
Robert S. Kahn: Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45267, USA
C. Jason Wang: Center for Policy, Outcomes, and Prevention, Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 24, 1-13

Abstract: Unaddressed health-related social needs (HRSNs) and parental mental health needs in an infant’s environment can negatively affect their health outcomes. This study examines the challenges and potential technological solutions for addressing these needs in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) setting and beyond. In all, 22 semistructured interviews were conducted with members of the NICU care team and other relevant stakeholders, based on an interpretive description approach. The participants were selected from three safety net hospitals in the U.S. with level IV NICUs. The challenges identified include navigating the multitude of burdens families in the NICU experience, resource constraints within and beyond the health system, a lack of streamlined or consistent processes, no closed-loop referrals to track status and outcomes, and gaps in support postdischarge. Opportunities for leveraging technology to facilitate screening and referral include automating screening, initiating risk-based referrals, using remote check-ins, facilitating resource navigation, tracking referrals, and providing language support. However, technological implementations should avoid perpetuating disparities and consider potential privacy or data-sharing concerns. Although advances in technological health tools alone cannot address all the challenges, they have the potential to offer dynamic tools to support the healthcare setting in identifying and addressing the unique needs and circumstances of each family in the NICU.

Keywords: social determinants of health; health-related social needs; parental mental health; neonatal intensive care unit; mobile health technology; social work; infant health; infant development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/24/7161/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/24/7161/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:24:p:7161-:d:1297036

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().