Developing and Evaluating a Parent Support Group for Those Affected by a Fetal Diagnosis at a Tertiary Fetal Center

The rate of birth defects is 30% nationally, as well as in Utah. Parents who learn their unborn baby has severe anomalies experience significantly more mental and emotional stress than parents with unremarkable findings. Fetal centers serve this patient population but often fail to address the mental and emotional needs of parents due to such focus on the fetus. Peer support groups are an efficacious intervention to help individuals going through similar challenges and could help parents who face a fetal diagnosis. Local Problem: The Grant Scott Bonham Fetal Center (GSBFC) is in Salt Lake City, Utah. Last year, they served 355 patients in the Intermountain West region. A financial gift from the Bonham family allocated funds to increase parent and family support services. This project aimed to develop a parent support group program for the GSBFC and evaluate it for useability, feasibility, and satisfaction based on feedback from the center leaders. Methods: In addition to a literature review, semi-structured interviews were conducted with staff from six other fetal centers to obtain data about facilitators and barriers that may exist in establishing parent support groups. The interview data and the mutual aid model in group work guided the program's development. After four PDSA cycles with the clinic social worker in developing the program, the parent support group program was evaluated at the center's monthly steering committee meeting to determine if center leaders found it useable, feasible, and satisfactory. Interventions: Parents will be evaluated by the clinic social worker at their first clinic visit and screened to ensure they are an appropriate fit for the group. Parents who have received a lethal fetal diagnosis or have an unstable mental health condition will not be included in the group but will receive other resources for help. Group meetings will be held once a month and last 60 minutes. Each meeting will explain the group purpose and rules, participant introductions, an introduction to one of four scripted topics, a group discussion, and a check-out of participants. The group's implementation is outside the scope of this project. Results: The literature revealed that the efficacy of peer support groups extends into the perinatal setting. Three of the six fetal centers assessed by interview successfully ran parent support groups in person before the COVID-19 pandemic. One had recently started again via an online platform, and another planned to do the same. Of 12 individuals participating in the steering committee meeting, 100% felt a parent support group was essential and needed, and they planned to adopt the proposed program within the calendar year. Conclusion: The proposed parental peer support group proved feasible, usable, and satisfactory to the leadership at the center as a much-needed first step toward providing comprehensive mental health support to their patient population.