Nursing Commons^™

Postpartum Support: Application Of A Local Peer Support, Community Care Model, Stephanie E. Ward

Theses and Graduate Projects

The postpartum period is one of the most influential developmental stages of a women’s life and represents a time of heightened risk for mental health decline. Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders have been implicated as a key influence of negative parenting experiences, poor newborn psychological outcomes, delayed newborn development, and inadequately adaptive family development behaviors. Integrating established resiliency components against mental illness, such as social support, into a postpartum care model can benefit postpartum women and secondarily positively impact the aforementioned outcomes. A community care model highlighting social support for postpartum mothers was integrated into a rural Minnesota region and …