Uncovering the Model and Philosophy of Care of a Psychiatric Inpatient Mother-Baby Unit in a Qualitative Study with Staff

The postnatal period is high-risk time for the first onset and recurrence of maternal mental health disorders. Untreated maternal mental illness can have significant adverse impacts on a woman, her baby, and the wider family unit. For women with mental illnesses that cannot be managed in the community, psychiatric inpatient mother-baby units are the gold standard treatment whereby mothers are co-admitted with their infant for specialist perinatal and infant mental health assessment and treatment. The study explores the model of care and examines the philosophies of care that are used within a psychiatric mother-baby unit. Purposive sampling was used to conduct semi-structured focus group and individual interviews with multidisciplinary staff members at a single mother-baby unit. Themes derived from these interviews were coded into two primary themes and a range of sub-themes. The first primary theme focused on the Model of Care consisting of the following sub-themes: mental health care, physical health care, babies’ care, building mother-baby relationship, fostering relationships with supports, and facilitating community support. The second primary theme centered around the Philosophy of Care comprising of: person-centered care, trauma-informed care, compassion-centered care, recovery-oriented care, attachment-informed care, non-judgmental care, strengths-based care and interdisciplinary care. The model can be used to provide consistency across mother-baby units and to support core capabilities of staff in providing an optimal level of care.