Examining the impact of a change in maternity leave policy in Canada on maternal mental health care visits to the physician.

Autor: Larose MP; INVEST Flagship Research Center, Department of Psychology and Speech-Language Pathology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland. mplaro@utu.fi., Haeck C; Département des sciences économiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, P.O. 8888, Box 'A', Montreal, QC, Canada., Lefebvre P; Département des sciences économiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, P.O. 8888, Box 'A', Montreal, QC, Canada., Merrigan P; Département des sciences économiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, P.O. 8888, Box 'A', Montreal, QC, Canada.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Archives of women's mental health [Arch Womens Ment Health] 2024 Oct; Vol. 27 (5), pp. 775-783. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Feb 27.
DOI: 10.1007/s00737-024-01448-y
Abstrakt: Purpose: Maternity leave is a critical employee benefit that allows mothers to recover from the stress of pregnancy and childbirth and bond with their new baby. We aimed to examine the association between the extension of a maternity leave policy and maternal use of mental health services and prescription drugs in a universal public healthcare system.
Methods: This study uses administrative medical records from 18,000 randomly selected women who gave birth three months before and after an extension of the maternity leave policy. More specifically, mothers who gave birth after January 1st 2001, were entitled to 50 weeks of paid maternity leave, while mothers who gave birth before that date were entitled to only 26 weeks of paid maternity leave. Medical records were analyzed over a seven-year period (i.e., from October 1998 to March 2006). We examined the number and costs of mothers' medical visits for mental health care in the five years following delivery, as well as maternal use of prescribed medication for mental health problems.
Results: We found that mothers with extended maternity leave had - 0.12 (95%CI=-0.21; -0.02) fewer medical visits than mothers without a more generous maternity leave and that the cost of mental health services was Can$5 less expensive per women. These differences were found specifically during the extended maternity leave period.
Conclusions: The extra time away from work may help mothers to balance new family dynamics which may result in less demand on the healthcare system.
(© 2024. The Author(s).)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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