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Review
. 2025 Jun;45(6):705-712.
doi: 10.1038/s41372-024-02156-2. Epub 2024 Oct 26.

Supporting parents' emotional and mental health in the antenatal consultation

S K Kukora  1 , T Branche  2   3 , E R Miller  4   5 , N Henner  2   3   6 , V Kapadia  7 , M F Haward  8
Affiliations
Review

Supporting parents' emotional and mental health in the antenatal consultation

S K Kukora et al. J Perinatol. 2025 Jun.

Abstract

Supporting parents' emotional and mental health is crucial during antenatal consultations, in which expectant parents often receive serious news about their infant and sometimes face complex antenatal or postnatal decision-making. Being considerate of the circumstances to mitigate barriers and stressors, utilizing clear and sensitive language, and personalizing counseling and decision-making to support parents' pluralistic values are strategies that individual neonatologists can use to promote parents' mental wellness in these encounters. Partnership with clinicians of other disciplines and professions in antenatal consultations can help in providing additional medical information and parent support; however, care must be coordinated within the team to ensure that confusing or conflicting counseling is avoided. In addition to improving communication skills for these encounters as individuals and teams, opportunities also exist to enhance support of parents' mental health at the institutional and national level.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

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