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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Pediatric Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1549246
IMH-HVASSOCIATED WITH IMPROVED HEALTH SERVICE UTILIZATION 1 The Michigan Model of Infant Mental Health -Home Visiting Increases Preventative Services while Decreasing Emergency Services for Children
Provisionally accepted
Jerrica Pitzen 1
Danielle Rice 2 Jennifer Jester 3
Jessica Riggs 4 Megan Julian 4 Brendan Appold 5
Barbara Durán 4*
Maria Muzik 4
Katherine Rosenblum 4- 1 University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, United States
- 2 Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, United States
- 3 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
- 4 Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
- 5 University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, United States
Objective: This study examined the impact of a relationship-based intervention, the Michigan Model of Infant Mental Health Home Visiting (IMH-HV), on infant/child referrals and receipt of physical health services. Method: Using a randomized controlled trial (RCT) design, participants included community-recruited mother-infant/toddler dyads who were randomized to treatment (IMH-HV) or control. Participant-reported healthcare, related service referrals received, and number of medical visits attended at baseline, 6-, and 12-month were examined. Results: Families assigned to IMH-HV were more likely to receive (OR=13.6, p=.001) and follow up on referrals (OR=7.1, p=.00), and found them more helpful than the control group (OR=3.9, p=.03). Children in the treatment group received services in the emergency department (ED; 14.7%) less often compared to control group (34.4%). At 12 months, control group children were more likely to miss well-child visits compared to the IMH-HV group. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that families who receive IMH-HV services increase their access to and utilization of resources to reduce the impact of some of the most harmful social determinants of poor health, developmental, and relational outcomes. Unique components of IMH-HV that might explain this include attending to concrete needs, referrals for medical care, and providing developmental guidance.
Keywords: healthcare utilization, Referral rates, infant mental health, well child visits, Early Intervention
Received: 20 Dec 2024; Accepted: 11 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Pitzen, Rice, Jester, Riggs, Julian, Appold, Durán, Muzik and Rosenblum. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Barbara Durán, Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
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