Demographic Characteristics Associated with Pregnant and Postpartum Youth Referred for Mental Health Services in a Community Outreach Center.

Objective: We aimed to describe demographic characteristics associated with pregnant and postpartum youth and young adults referred for mental health services in the community and to compare this with data drawn from a hospital-based perinatal mental health clinic.

Method: Patients were recruited at a young parents' outreach center (YPOC) in a large urban Canadian city. The patients completed questionnaires at the time of initial assessment. The number of attended and missed appointments was tracked and compared to a hospital-based control group in an effort to determine whether the community-based clinic would result in fewer missed appointments.

Results: A total of 28 patients were assessed at the YPOC. The mean age of all participants was 19.4 years (+/- 2.3 years) as compared to 18.57 years (± 1.81 years) for the hospital-based group. Rates of poverty were high, and high school completion and level of social support low for many patients. Patients attending the YPOC clinic missed fewer appointments overall.

Conclusions: Pregnant and postpartum adolescents and young adults possess multiple risk factors across various domains that threaten short and long term health outcomes. Establishment of outreach mental health clinics may help minimize barriers to care as demonstrated in the present study by fewer missed appointments and should be investigated further as a means of improving mental health access and outcomes.