Implementation Evaluation of HUGS/Abrazos During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Program to Foster Resiliency in Pregnancy and Early Childhood

Frontiers in Public Health

article

Meisui Liu¹  Meg Simione¹  Meghan E. Perkins¹  Sarah N. Price¹  Mandy Luo¹  William Lopez¹  Viktoria M. Catalan¹  Szu-Yu Tina Chen¹  Carlos Torres²  Gracia M. Kwete²  Molly Seigel²  Andrea G. Edlow²  Maria Yolanda Parra⁴  Mary Lyons Hunter⁴  Alexy Arauz Boudreau¹  Elsie M. Taveras¹ 

[1]Division of General Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, Massachusetts General Hospital for Children

[2]Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School

[3]Harvard Medical School

[4]MGH Chelsea HealthCare Center

[5]MGH Revere HealthCare Center

[6]Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Massachusetts General Hospital

[7]Kraft Center for Community Health, Massachusetts General Hospital

[8]Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

关键词: toxic stress;    patient navigation;    resilience;    RE-AIM;    COVID-19 pandemic;    early childhood;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpubh.2022.862388

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Early life adversity can significantly impact child development and health outcomes throughout the life course. With the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbating preexisting and introducing new sources of toxic stress, social programs that foster resilience are more necessary now than ever. The Helping Us Grow Stronger (HUGS/Abrazos) program fills a crucial need for protective buffers during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has escalated toxic stressors affecting pregnant women and families with young children. HUGS/Abrazos combines patient navigation, behavioral health support, and innovative tools to ameliorate these heightened toxic stressors. We used a mixed-methods approach, guided by the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework, to evaluate the implementation of the HUGS/Abrazos program at Massachusetts General Hospital from 6/30/2020–8/31/2021. Results of the quality improvement evaluation revealed that the program was widely adopted across the hospital and 392 unique families were referred to the program. The referred patients were representative of the communities in Massachusetts disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, 79% of referred patients followed up with the initial referral, with sustained high participation rates throughout the program course; and they were provided with an average of four community resource referrals. Adoption and implementation of the key components in HUGS/Abrazos were found to be appropriate and acceptable. Furthermore, the implemented program remained consistent to the original design. Overall, HUGS/Abrazos was well adopted as an emergency relief program with strong post-COVID-19 applicability to ameliorate continuing toxic stressors while decreasing burden on the health system.

【 授权许可】

CC BY