2002 International International Biennial Scientific Meeting

PREDICTORS OF SOCIAL SERVICES SUPERVISION OF BABIES OF MOTHERS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS AFTER ADMISSION TO A PSYCHIATRIC MOTHER AND BABY UNIT

Louise Howard*, Nisha Shah**, Margaret Salmon***, and Louis Appleby***

* Health Services Research Department, Institute of Psychiatry, London
** University College Hospital, Department of Psychological Medicine, Cecil Fleming House, Grafton Way
*** School of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, University of Manchester, Withington Hospital, West Didsbury, Manchester

l.howard@iop.kcl.ac.uk

Objective: Using data from mother and baby units in the UK we aimed to examine the social and clinical characteristics of mothers whose babies were supervised by social services on discharge.

Method: Case-control study using data from mother and baby units and facilities entered onto the Marce database.

Results: Twenty two percent of 1197 mothers were discharged with their babies under some form of social services supervision. Factors independently associated with an increased risk of supervision included social class, marital status, and psychiatric illness in the partner. The diagnostic groups independently associated with the highest risk of having a supervised baby were schizophrenia and personality disorder.

Conclusions: Mothers with schizophrenia are at particularly high risk of having their baby supervised by social services. Preventative interventions should be targeted at socio-economic difficulties, early detection of psychiatric disorders post-partum and treatment of perinatal mental illness in the context of the whole family.