Assessment of mother/birthing parent-infant interaction | Right Decisions

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Mental health in pregnancy and after birth (SIGN)
Recommendations for health and social care professionals
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Screening and assessment
Assessment of mother/birthing parent-infant interaction

Please update your RDS mobile app to version 4.7.1

We are pleased to advise that deep linking capability, enabling users to directly download individual mobile toolkits, has now been released on the RDS mobile app. When you install the update, you will see that each toolkit has a small QR code icon the header area beside the search icon – see screenshot below. Clicking on this icon will open up a window with a full-size QR code and the alternative of a short URL for sharing with users. Instructions are provided.

You may need to actively install the update to install RDS app version 4.7.1 to see this improvement. Installing this update is also strongly recommended to get the full benefits of the new contingency arrangements – specifically, that if the RDS website should fail, you will still be able to download new mobile app toolkits.

To check your current RDS version, click on the three dots bottom right of the RDS app screen. This takes you to a “More” page where you will see the version number. To install latest updates:

On iPhones – go to the Apple store, click on your profile icon top right, scroll down to see the apps waiting to be updated and update the RDS app.

On Android phones – these can vary, but try going to the Google Play store, click on your profile icon top right, click on “Manage apps and device”, select and update the RDS app.

Please get in touch with ann.wales3@nhs.scot with any questions.

Assess the mother/birthing parent-infant interaction as an integral part of perinatal care and refer to the infant mental health or parent and infant relationship service as available and appropriate.

Seek guidance and support from multicultural health workers, if available, when assessing mother/birthing parent-infant interaction in migrant, refugee and culturally and linguistically diverse women, to ensure that assessment is person and culturally appropriate, and not informed by unconscious bias.

Consider the potential additional needs of young mothers/birthing parents when assessing mother/birthing parent-infant interactions to ensure that assessment is person and age appropriate, and not informed by unconscious bias.

Assess the risk of harm to the infant if significant difficulties are observed with the mother/birthing parent-infant interaction, the woman/birthing parent discloses that they are having thoughts of harming their infant and/or there is concern about the mother/birthing parent’s mental health.