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Parental Mental Health and Infant NICU Admission
Activity Description
Parental mental health in the NICU is a critical, yet often under-addressed, aspect of neonatal care. Despite high levels of emotional distress experienced by both mothers and fathers during and after NICU hospitalization, current practices lack consistent screening protocols and inclusive support services. This activity aims to explore the gaps in current NICU parental mental health practices, including limited screening during hospitalization and the absence of ongoing support post-discharge. It will highlight the disconnect between infant acuity and mental health service planning and provide example interventions that include standardized, culturally sensitive screening for both parents, multidisciplinary support teams and programs that promote parent-infant bonding. Participants will gain insight into how these improvements can lead to more equitable, proactive and effective mental health support for NICU families.
This activity is designed to meet the educational needs of nurses, nurse practitioners, physicians, physician assistants, and other health care professionals who care for families with infants admitted to the NICU, with a focus on addressing parental mental health and its impact on infant outcomes.
At the end of this activity, participants should be able to:
- Identify the impacts of infant NICU admission on maternal and paternal mental health.
- Articulate how parental mental health impacts infant outcomes.
- Recognize interventions that effectively target parental mental health screening and outcomes.
Provided by
This activity is provided by Optum Health Education and Optum Whole Health Solutions, Women’s Health.
Commercial support
No commercial support was received for this activity.
Required hardware/software
Please ensure you are using the web-browser Chrome and disable any pop-up blocking software. Click here for information on how to enable pop-ups.
Presenter
Alison Cook, DO
National Medical Director, Neonatal Resource Services
Optum Whole Health Solutions
Optum
Activity Planners
Elizabeth Albert, MD
Clinical Planner
Optum Health Education
Susana Castro-Alcaraz, MD
Senior Medical Director
Optum Health Solutions
Sarah Chart, RN
Vice President
Optum Health Education
Disclosures of relevant financial relationships
In accordance with the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education's (ACCME) Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education, Optum Health Education (OHE) requires all those in control of educational content to disclose their financial relationships with ineligible companies within the prior 24 months. Ineligible companies are defined by the ACCME as companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing health care products used by or on patients. Individuals must disclose all financial relationships, regardless of the amount, with ineligible companies and regardless of their view of the relevance of the relationship to the education. OHE ensures that the content is independent of commercial bias.
Dr. Alison Cook has no financial relationships to disclose.
The planners have no financial relationships to disclose.
Accreditation statement
In support of improving patient care, this activity has been planned and implemented by Optum Health Education and Optum Whole Health Solutions, Women’s Health. Optum Health Education is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the health care team.
Credit designation statements
AAPC-certified coders
AAPC will honor 1-for-1 CEUs for any live event offering CME credit or AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. A certificate of attendance or completion is necessary to show participation. The certificate will give the total CMEs possible for the offering. Physicians are advised to claim only the actual hours that they were present during the education. We ask that AAPC-certified members abide by this request also. One hour of instruction is worth 1 CEU.
Nurses
The participant will be awarded up to 1.00 contact hour(s) of credit for attendance and completion of supplemental materials.
Nurse practitioners
The American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Certification Program (AANPCP) accepts credit from organizations accredited by the ACCME and ANCC.
Physicians
Optum Health Education designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
PAs
The American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) accepts credit from organizations accredited by the ACCME.
Attendance
A certificate of attendance will be provided to learners upon completion of activity requirements, enabling participants to register with licensing boards or associations that have not been preapproved for credits. To apply for credit types not listed above, participants should use the procedure established by the specific organization from which they wish to obtain credit.
Available Credit
- 1.00 AAPC - Coders
- 1.00 AMA - Physicians
- 1.00 ANCC - Nurses
- 1.00 Attendance - General Attendance
- You must be logged into your optumhealtheducation.com account to register for this live webcast.
- To log in, click here or scroll to the Log in bar at the top of this page.
- If you DO NOT have an optumhealtheducation.com account, click Create account at the top of the page and enter your information. Click CREATE ACCOUNT.
- Once logged into your account, click Continue to complete registration.
Registrants will receive an email confirmation upon successful completion of registration. This confirmation will be sent to the email address associated with your optumhealtheducation.com account. If you do not receive an email within one hour after registering, please contact [email protected].
Activity date/time: This live webcast will be held on Thursday, January 29, 2026, from 1–2 p.m. ET (12–1 p.m. CT; 11 a.m.–12 p.m. MT; 10–11 a.m. PT).
Fees: There are no fees for participating in or receiving credit for this activity.
Questions: Email [email protected].
Required Hardware/software
Please ensure you are using the web browser Chrome and disable any pop-up blocking software. Click here for information on how to enable pop-ups.