Grant supports respectful maternity care, maternal mental health in South Dakota

A $10,000 supplemental grant award to the South Dakota Perinatal Quality Collaborative is creating opportunities to strengthen how maternal care is delivered across South Dakota.

The South Dakota Perinatal Quality Collaborative receives funding from the National Institute for Child Health Quality to support its work, and the new award supplements that funding, said Stephanie Hanson, executive director of the collaborative and an assistant professor of allied and population health at South Dakota State University. Centered on implementing the core principles of the Respectful Maternity Care Toolkit, the funding aims to provide healthcare teams with evidence-based guidance on what respectful care looks like in practice.

About half of the grant funding will support the South Dakota Perinatal Quality Collaborative's statewide efforts by reinforcing ongoing work focused on maternal health outcomes and quality improvement initiatives. The remaining funds will be used to pilot a bibliotherapy intervention at selected facilities across the state.

Bibliotherapy is a technique that uses story-based texts, such as books or poems, to support individuals experiencing mental health challenges or seeking to develop new skills for growth and coping with difficult situations.

According to Hanson, bibliotherapy has proven effective in treating depression and anxiety in the general population. This pilot project, however, will be among the first to explore its use among new mothers.

Depression and anxiety are among the most common mental health issues affecting new mothers and can lead to serious physical and emotional health consequences for families and their newborns.

The South Dakota Perinatal Quality Collaborative is using “You Are My Reason,” written by Hanson and illustrated by Sioux Falls artist Hector Curriel, to help individuals struggling with mental health concerns. The book will be shared by physicians with mothers during postpartum visits in hopes of helping new parents feel comfortable discussing mental health concerns with their care providers.

"As many as 50% of new mothers are not talking with their care providers about feelings of depression or anxiety," Hanson said. "Yet these feelings are extremely common."

New mothers often avoid discussing mental health concerns because they fear judgment or stigma associated with depression and anxiety, according to Hanson. When “You Are My Reason” is incorporated into care visits, new mothers may identify with characters in the story who are experiencing similar struggles. By helping mothers see they are not alone in their feelings, Hanson suggests they may be more likely to seek help early.

"Healthcare providers genuinely want to offer respectful care and believe they are doing so, but there is often confusion about what that actually means," Hanson said. "This book provides them with a tool to facilitate discussions in a kind and respectful way about a frequently stigmatized health issue."