National ARC webinar explores health inequalities in early life

  • 24th May 2024
National ARC webinar explores health inequalities in early life

Over 450 people joined the latest national NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) webinar exploring health inequalities early in life.

The fourth webinar in the series and the first of 2024 focused on research on health inequalities in the context of maternity, ethnicity, mental health and care leavers.

Watch the full webinar:

Webinar overview:

The webinar consisted of three ten-minute presentations with additional time for Q&A.

Ethnic health inequalities in maternal and neonatal health in England
Speaker: Dr Abimbola Ayorinde, NIHR ARC West Midlands

Dr Ayorinde presented her work on Mapping existing policy interventions to tackle ethnic health inequalities in maternal and neonatal health in England: A systematic scoping review with stakeholder engagement.

Dr Ayorinde addresses the significant ethnic health inequalities in maternal and neonatal health in England, with a focus on the disproportionately high maternal mortality rates among Black women compared to White women. Research highlights systemic racism as a critical underlying factor contributing to the disparities, yet interventions to tackle these disparities are limited. Positive future action could include genuine co-production with communities and full acknowledgement of the impact of racism on health outcomes.

To find out more about this work contact A.Ayorinde.1@warwick.ac.uk.

Improving perinatal mental health and maternity care
Speaker: Dr Abigail Easter, NIHR ARC South London

Dr Easter presented her varied work on maternal and perinatal mental health including her work on The Effectiveness and Implementation of Maternal Mental Health Services (ESMI-III) study led by NIHR ARC South London and funded by NIHR PenARC.

Around one in five women experience mental health issues during pregnancy or within a year after birth, ranging from depression and anxiety to postpartum psychosis. These conditions significantly affect the well-being of parents and families, pregnancy outcomes, and long-term child health. Dr Easter discusses research in this area with a focus on the barriers to accessing perinatal mental health care, recommendations to overcome these issues and interventions which are effective.

To find out more about this work contact abigail.easter@kcl.ac.uk.

Identifying and supporting the mental health needs of care-experienced young people
Speaker: Prof Rachel Hiller, NIHR ARC West and NIHR ARC North Thames

Prof Hiller presented her work on the Trauma-focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for children in care (ADaPT) study led by NIHR ARC West, involving multiple NIHR ARCs and funded and supported by NIHR PenARC.

Prof Hiller discusses the therapeutic treatment of children in care, highlighting evidence suggesting professionals are overly inclined to diagnose young people in care with attachment disorders alongside the wider challenges of delivering the best-evidenced mental health support to these young people. Despite the high efficacy of trauma-focused CBT, the ADaPT study found that only about half of services could implement this treatment for young people in care. Factors influencing this include assessment practices, culture/therapist belief and service structure, with potential solutions including standardisation of assessments, commissioning reform and awareness raising.

To find out more about this work contact: r.hiller@ucl.ac.uk

Prof Vashti Berry, Associate Professor in Prevention Science, chaired these webinars. Vashti leads children’s health within NIHR ARC South West Peninsula (PenARC). She is the Director of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Research Collaboration (ChYMe) at the University of Exeter.

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