Abstract
Children with medical complexity (CMC) are a medically fragile subset of children
who rely on parental caregivers for substantial care needs. Caregivers of CMC often
experience adverse health outcomes such as depression and anxiety, sleep deprivation,
financial hardships, and social isolation. Caregivers of CMC are at risk of premature
mortality, which is thought to be mediated by chronic and elevated stress, as well
as psychiatric morbidity risk. Access to mental health care, where the needs of both
the caregiver and child are considered, can enable caregivers to meet high caregiving
demands and improve both child and caregiver outcomes. We describe the Caring for
the Caregiver (C4C) model, a novel integrated stepped care model consisting of collaboration
between a psychiatrist and a pediatric complex care program. This model provides support
in 3 steps: 1) early identification of distress, 2) social work assessment, intervention
and psychotherapy, and 3) psychiatric care, including diagnosis or medication initiation,
for caregivers of CMC. This innovative model will be the first to embed support for
the mental health needs of caregivers of CMC within a pediatric team, facilitating
access to psychiatric care and serving as a foundation for future integrated stepped
care models.
Keywords
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: June 06, 2022
Accepted:
June 1,
2022
Received:
December 13,
2021
Publication stage
In Press Journal Pre-ProofFootnotes
The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Identification
Copyright
Copyright © 2022 by Academic Pediatric Association
