Background: Postpartum depression (PPD) is the most common childbirth complication that affects 10-15% of all women, with long-term adverse health outcomes for mothers and their infants. African American/Black (AA/B) womenare twice as likely to experience PPD compared to White women. However, despite severe outcomes, many AA/Bmother-infant dyads do not receive specialized mental health care due to barriers such as mental health stigma,healthcare inequities, childcare issues, transportation challenges, and poor access to specialized treatment tailoredto PPD. Furthermore, AA/B women's use of mental health services is also influenced by the Strong Black Womanschema (SBW; i.e., AA/B women's belief in the need to be "independent, self-silencing, and self-sacrificing"). Anevidence-based, culturally-relevant mental health program is needed to support the needs of AA/B women.MommaConnect is novel from scientific, technical, and clinical perspectives in addressing specific barriers toaccessibility, acceptability, and affordability among women with PPD, including AA/B mothers. Phase I specificaims are to:1. Co-create the MommaConnect mHealth platform content with 6-8 AA/B women who have experienced PPD. We will leverage focus groups with AA/B women to co-create the MommaConnect platform.2. Evaluate feasibility of the MommaConnect platform with 30 AA/B women who have experienced PPD for 12 weeks with 6 clinicians.Methods: Our SBIR Phase I will address these barriers by quickly supporting the co-creation and evaluation of thefeasibility of MommaConnect, a mobile health application, which delivers a 12-week intervention to reduce PPDseverity and improve the quality of mother-infant interaction, i.e., the critical mechanism that supports healthy infantdevelopment. MommaConnect integrates two established evidence-based therapies: Mother-Baby InteractionTherapy (MBI) and Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT). IPT and MBI share an interpersonal framework thatemphasizes the critical interpersonal relationship between mothers and their infants.Implications: The outcomes from this study can inform further development of an innovative model of delivery ofperinatal mental health treatment for women with PPD and their infants, improve access to mental health services,reduce PPD symptoms, and promote positive infant developmental outcomes.
Public Health Relevance Statement: Project Narrative
The platform, entitled MommaConnect, is a mobile health application that delivers a 12-week intervention for
African American / Black mothers to reduce postpartum depression severity and improve the quality of mother-
infant interaction, i.e., the critical mechanism that supports healthy infant development. MommaConnect
integrates two established therapies: Mother-Baby Interaction Therapy (MBI) and Interpersonal Psychotherapy
(IPT). MommaConnect holds promise to expand access, increase engagement, improve health outcomes, and
ultimately decrease mental health disparities.
Project Terms:
