WASHINGTON, DC (March 27, 2026)—Addressing mental health conditions during pregnancy and the postpartum period is one important way to reduce maternal mortality, which is alarmingly high in the US and disproportionately affects Black families. Providers don’t always have enough time to follow up with perinatal patients who screen positive for depression or other mental health conditions, and social workers can help address this need. In a systematic review selected as the Editor’s Choice for the March/April Women’s Health Issues, the authors examined studies of perinatal mental health interventions that included social workers.
Women’s Health Issues is the official journal of the Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health, which is based at the Milken Institute School of Public Health (Milken Institute SPH) at the George Washington University.
Liana J. Petruzzi of American University and colleagues searched for studies published between January 2008 and May 2024 that involved interventions delivered by social workers in health care settings to pregnant or postpartum individuals. The studies had to report at least one mental health outcome. The authors posed four questions: “1) What types of health care settings have integrated social workers into perinatal care? 2) What types of perinatal mental health services are social workers providing? 3) What mental health outcomes are being measured? and 4) Are social workers efficacious at delivering perinatal interventions and improving mental health outcomes?”
Petruzzi and colleagues identified 32 studies that met their inclusion criteria. The settings included obstetrics and gynecology offices (40%), other outpatient clinics like primary care (13%), hospitals (22%), and community settings like home visitation programs (25%). Twenty of the studies assessed social worker-delivered interventions’ efficacy at reducing depression, anxiety, or another mental health condition. Of those 20 studies, 18 reported at least one significant improvement in a mental health outcome.
“The integration of social workers directly into perinatal settings enhances the ability to not only screen for mental health and social needs, but also provide direct mental health services, care coordination, and case management within perinatal health settings,” the authors write. “Scaling up the kinds of interventions tested by studies in this review will likely require growing the social work workforce.” They note that perinatal mental health coursework and certificates within schools of social work could help increase capacity.
“This review shows that researchers have identified several promising models of social worker interventions to improve maternal mental health,” said Karen McDonnell, Editor-in-Chief of Women's Health Issues and Associate Professor of Prevention and Community Health at Milken Institute SPH. “It indicates potential next steps to institutional leaders and policymakers, who can consider testing one of the interventions in their setting or increasing investments in the perinatal social worker workforce.”
“Can Social Work Interventions Improve Perinatal Mental Health Outcomes? A Systematic Review” has been published in the March/April 2026 issue of Women’s Health Issues.