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Strengthen the Evidence for Maternal and Child Health Programs

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Evidence Tools
MCHbest. Postpartum Mental Health Screening.

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Strategy. Patient Education

Approach. Support perinatal nurses in providing education to new mother's regarding the importance of postpartum depression and anxiety prior to discharge from the hospital following a live birth.

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Overview. Supporting and partnering with perinatal nurses as well as other providers who deliver care for new mothers offers the opportunity to educate patients during a crucial time in their perinatal journey.[1] In order to have the biggest impact, providing education to postpartum women should include information that is tailored and provides information on the importance of postpartum depression and anxiety screening, treatment options, and details on follow-up mental health services.[2,3]

Evidence. Emerging Evidence. Strategies with this rating typically trend positive and have good potential to work. They often have a growing body of recent, but limited research that documents effects. However, further study is needed to confirm effects, determine which types of health behaviors and conditions these interventions address, and gauge effectiveness across different population groups. (Clarifying Note: The WWFH database calls this "mixed evidence").

Access the peer-reviewed evidence through the MCH Digital Library or related evidence source. (Read more about understanding evidence ratings).

Source. Peer-Reviewed Literature

Outcome Components. This strategy has shown to have impact on the following outcomes (Read more about these categories):

  • Mental Health. This strategy promotes emotional, psychological, and social well-being of individuals and communities.
  • Access to/Receipt of Care. This strategy increases the ability for individuals to obtain healthcare services when needed, including preventive, diagnostic, and treatment services.
  • Timeliness of Care. This strategy promotes delivery of healthcare services in a timely manner to optimize benefits and prevent complications.

Detailed Outcomes. For specific outcomes related to each study supporting this strategy, access the peer-reviewed evidence and read the Intervention Results for each study.

Intervention Type. Health Teaching (Education and Promotion) (Read more about intervention types and levels as defined by the Public Health Intervention Wheel).

Intervention Level. Individual/Family-Focused

Examples from the Field. There are currently no ESMs that use this strategy. As Title V agencies begin to incorporate this strategy into ESMs, examples will be available here. Until then, you can search for ESMs that have similar intervention components in the ESM database.

Sample ESMs. Here are sample ESMs to use as models for your own measures using the Results-Based Accountability framework (for suggestions on how to develop programs to support this strategy, see The Role of Title V in Adapting Strategies).

Quadrant 1:
Measuring Quantity of Effort ("What/how much did we do?")

PROCESS MEASURES:

  • Number of perinatal nurses trained on providing postpartum mental health education. (Measures the extent of workforce development efforts)
  • Number of new mothers who receive postpartum mental health education. (Measures the linguistic responsiveness of the education)

Quadrant 2:
Measuring Quality of Effort ("How well did we do it?")

PROCESS MEASURES:

  • Percent of perinatal nurses trained on providing postpartum mental health education. (Measures the extent of workforce development efforts)
  • Percent of new mothers who receive postpartum mental health education. (Measures the linguistic responsiveness of the education)

Quadrant 3:
Measuring Quantity of Effect ("Is anyone better off?")

PROCESS MEASURES:

  • Number of perinatal nurse champions or leaders engaged in promoting the postpartum mental health education program who report high levels of engagement from those involved in education opportunities. (Assesses the presence of internal supporters to sustain the strategy)
  • Number of community partnerships led by Title V established to extend the reach and impact of postpartum mental health education who report high levels of engagement. (Measures collaboration with external partners)

OUTCOME MEASURES:

  • Number of new mothers who seek mental health support or services after receiving postpartum education. (Shows the behavioral impact of education)
  • Number of hospitals that integrate postpartum mental health education into standard discharge procedures. (Measures institutionalization of the strategy)

Quadrant 4:
Measuring Quality of Effect ("How are they better off?")

PROCESS MEASURES:

  • Percent of perinatal nurse champions or leaders engaged in promoting the postpartum mental health education program who report high levels of engagement from those involved in education opportunities. (Assesses the presence of internal supporters to sustain the strategy)
  • Percent of community partnerships led by Title V established to extend the reach and impact of postpartum mental health education who report high levels of engagement. (Measures collaboration with external partners)

OUTCOME MEASURES:

  • Percent of new mothers who seek mental health support or services after receiving postpartum education. (Shows the behavioral impact of education)
  • Percent of hospitals that integrate postpartum mental health education into standard discharge procedures. (Measures institutionalization of the strategy)

Note. When looking at your ESMs, SPMs, or other strategies:

  1. Move from measuring quantity to quality.
  2. Move from measuring effort to effect.
  3. Quadrant 1 strategies should be used sparingly, when no other data exists.
  4. The most effective measurement combines strategies in all levels, with most in Quadrants 2 and 4.

Learn More. Read how to create stronger ESMs and how to measure ESM impact more meaningfully through Results-Based Accountability.

References

[1] Logsdon, M. C., Vogt, K., Davis, D. W., Myers, J., Hogan, F., Eckert, D., & Masterson, K. (2018). Screening for postpartum depression by hospital-based perinatal nurses. MCN: The American Journal of Maternal/Child Nursing, 43(6), 324-329.
[2] Lanuza, K. K., & Butler, J. M. (2021). Implementing a safety bundle to improve screening and care for perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. Nursing for Women's Health, 25(4), 264-271.
[3] Cohen, M., Stephens, C. T. D., Zaheer, A., Instone, S., & Macauley, K. A. (2022). Multilingual postpartum depression screening in pediatric community health clinics. Journal of Pediatric Health Care, 36(2), 115-123.

This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number U02MC31613, MCH Advanced Education Policy, $3.5 M. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.