A partnership to provide comprehensive perinatal mental health and parenting support for the first 1,000 days
The Raising Washington Initiative seeks to develop an evidence-based fully integrated perinatal support program that will offer mental health care, parent training and support services for the first 1,000 days of a baby’s life (conception through child’s 2nd birthday) for every high-risk baby born in Washington. This will include creating care pathways informed by the needs of patients and providers, navigators to help guide families through the many care transitions in the perinatal period and accessible information to keep parents and babies healthy.
To learn more this work, please contact Project Manager Lori Ferro, MHA at ljf9@uw.edu.
Children with comorbid mental health and neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) often require more intensive and coordinated care than those with mental health disorders alone. These two categories of disorders often present with comorbidity and engagement disparities in integrated behavioral health programs among this population remain poorly understood. This study examines differences in service utilization and attrition rates between these two populations using retrospective electronic health record (EHR) data from the SCCN study population (ages 6-18) across multiple primary care sites.
We will analyze visit frequency over a 6-12 month period to assess whether children with comorbid NDDs have higher service utilization. Additionally, early dropout rates will be examined using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox proportional hazards models to identify risk factors for attrition. Findings will provide critical insights into engagement patterns, informing strategies to enhance retention, reduce access disparities, and improve care coordination for children with complex behavioral needs. This study will contribute to investigating further integrated care model improvements in order to ensure more equitable and sustained mental health treatment for vulnerable pediatric populations.
The purpose of this study is to compare two implementation strategies for a social engagement intervention that supports autistic children and their non-autistic peers during recess. Remaking Recess has been shown to improve peer engagement for autistic students when implemented by paraeducators during recess. However, without supports, paraeducators face barriers to implementing the intervention well. This study compares paraeducators’ use of Remaking Recess when they receive coaching alone and when they receive coaching along with consultation from school-based teams.
This study will examine the efficacy of the Helping Educational Leaders Mobilize Evidence (HELM) implementation strategy for promoting building-level implementation leadership, implementation climate, and high-fidelity delivery of evidence-based practices. This study tests whether HELM improves outcomes when used in conjunction with Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), an evidence-based practice. The researchers will compare the effects of PBIS implemented with usual supports and PBIS implemented with HELM. They will also explore what for whom, under what conditions, how equitably, and through which processes HELM works to improve student academic outcomes, as well as its cost-effectiveness.
ADHD is common, heritable and impairing. As recognition of the negative functional impacts associated with ADHD in adulthood has grown and stigma around the diagnosis has diminished, demand for ADHD care across the lifespan has increased.
This project will begin foundational work to inform the development of a family-focused lifespan clinic at UW serving adults and children with ADHD. For such a program to be effective, equitable, and sustainable, we must clarify the true needs of individuals living with ADHD as well as the professionals caring for them. We will convene four groups of key community partners: (1) Adults with ADHD whose children have ADHD, (2) Adolescents with ADHD, (3) Mental health professionals representing the fields of psychiatry, psychology, psychiatry advanced practice nursing, school-based counseling, (4) Primary care providers. Results will guide program development and illuminate future research opportunities.
Project includes the design and development of survey instruments for the provider-level skills and agency-level readiness needs assessment and analyzing the data.
Project includes activities surrounding the provision of evaluation, training, and consultation services to PHSKC. These include developing, conducting and analyzing a needs assessment for mental health providers and agency leads to further refine a tier 2/3 model of care. Training and consultation supports will be provided.
