About the Project

Background: Mental health conditions are a top medical complication of pregnancy and childbirth and are associated with a range of adverse maternal and child outcomes. Approximately one in seven to one in four birthing people experience symptoms of a mental health condition during pregnancy or postpartum, yet few are diagnosed or treated. There remain critical knowledge gaps and significant challenges to adequately addressing maternal mental health. Improving capacity to address maternal mental health through evidence-based prevention and intervention efforts designed, implemented and evaluated with patient engagement and involvement can reduce maternal morbidity/mortality and improve child outcomes.

 

Proposed Solution: The project team’s solution is to convene a stakeholder group of patients, caregivers, providers, community members and researchers to understand the needs of birthing people; specifically, improving the capacity to address maternal mental health and using that knowledge to collaboratively determine a future patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR)/comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) agenda. Incorporating the voices of all stakeholders will increase patient-centeredness in future maternal mental health research. In a phased approach, a fully formed PCOR/CER research agenda can be disseminated efficiently and effectively to target audiences and decision makers, leading to better research project receptivity and implementation of future PCOR/CER evidence-based findings in maternal mental health research.

 

Objectives: The project team’s work will begin at Henry Ford Health (HFH) in Detroit, Michigan with mid- and long-term goals that entail creating sustained engagement of perinatal patients, providers and researchers in the design, implementation and dissemination of PCOR/CER on maternal mental health.

 

Activities: Through storytelling, the project team seeks to leverage the voices and lived experiences of patients with maternal mental health conditions, sharing these narratives and building capacity for future maternal mental health research. Subsequently, with the aid of a diverse stakeholder group the project team will develop a high-quality, patient-centered, maternal mental health-focused PCOR/CER agenda for dissemination

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