Research Agenda Development

1. How to build a bridge for community-campus engagement: The Maternal and Child Health Research Consortium Marjie Mogul , Ph.D. Director of Research and Evaluation Maternity Care Coalition Marjie Mogul, Ph.D. Director of Research and Evaluation Background of the Maternity Care Coalition Founded in 1980, Maternity Care Coalition (MCC) is a nonprofit organization with the mission to improve maternal and child health and wellbeing through the collaborative efforts of individuals, families, providers and communities. Our comprehensive approach includes research, public policy initiatives and services for families. Research Agenda Development Maternity Care Coalition (MCC) recognized the importance of research in developing and testing effective strategies to address community-based problems and made a commitment to developing a research agenda. After obtaining support from a local Foundation, the organization hired a full-time, Ph.D. level Research Director to implement and grow a research agenda addressing the needs of pregnant and parenting women in low income Philadelphia communities. Academic partners have shown such strong interest in research collaborations that we established the Maternal and Child Health Research Consortium, dedicated to promoting community-academic engagement. Successful Funded Research Collaborations MCC and psychologists from The University of Pennsylvania (Penn) and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) collaborated on a successful NIMH R21 CBPR grant: “Facilitating Effective Referrals for Perinatal Depression” in which we developed a mental health referral intervention and are now revising the manual for community health workers to facilitate the entrance of women into the behavioral health system. MCC and pediatrician-internists from Penn and CHOP implemented the “Postpartum Weight Management Study” with funding from Penn and Aetna Foundation, finding that two-way motivational text messaging and environmental aids can reduce weight and depression risk, and increase self-efficacy. The next step is a cost-effectiveness analysis and dissemination trial. Traditional Scientific Research Community-based Research COMMUNITY-ACADEMIC ENGAGEMENT: Bringing Together Science and the Community Research Consortium Membership • Mission: To facilitate the translation and dissemination of effective strategies to address maternal and child health issues in the local community. • Inter-disciplinary and cross-institutional • Approximately 40 members; 10+ institutions Future • Continue to lead collaborations to effectively disseminate scientific research into the community and engage community members in the research process • Establish topical sub-groups, for example: incarceration and reentry, perinatal depression and health and wellness • Create a workforce development center for educating future maternal and child health professionals Growth National and International Interest The “Mother’s Reentry Study” is an examination of the parenting experience of mothers leaving jail. MCC is leading a multi-disciplinary team of collaborators including a nurse, a social worker, a medical doctor and a criminologist from three universities. The next phase of the project is to study “successful community reentry”. MCC hosted, in conjunction with nursing faculty at Drexel University, an international summit of visiting scholars from Israel, “Collaborations across borders: Improving maternal health locally & globally”.