1. Site Launch: The 40-Day Project–Postpartum Support During First 40 Days
The University of Minnesota Extension, along with its partners (including the Center), is excited to announce the launch of The 40-Day Project, which provides self-care and wellness resources to Somali postpartum parents during the first 40 days, including how parents can:
Learn about the postpartum period and why self-care is important
Watch videos about self-care, parenting infants, mental wellness, and more
Sign up to receive daily text messages about wellness and self-care
Listen to birth stories and learn from other parents
Build social connections by creating a support plan
Providers will:
Learn language by accessing discussion scripts to support new parents
Download educational resources to share
Access screening tools for postpartum mental health concerns
Access crisis support
Learn more about the postpartum period
Kudos to MCHer Mollie Kohler, who is deployed to Extension and helping to make this work happen!
-Learn more about this project in Extension Family Development’s newsletter
-Sign up to receive daily text messages to support your postpartum care
2. Student Spotlight: How Did Dae Akre-Fens’ Time Working with Native Youth Highlight the Need for Public Health to Focus on Intersectionality and Indigeneity?
#UMNMCH student Dae Akre-Fens (she/her), MPH 2023, wrote this reflection on how her internship with the Indian Health Board and her interest in both sexual and reproductive health have contributed to her career in MCH.
3. Student Spotlight: How did Paige Erickson’s Deployment Address Mental Health Through a Public Health Lens?
#UMNMCH student Paige Erickson (she/they), MPH 2022, wrote this reflection on how her deployment with the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) and the UMN Extension Center for Family Development let her explore mental health through an MCH lens.
4. MCH Leads Blog Post: Intentionally Rebirthing Experiences - Health Equity Edition
Anastasia Woods, Tulane Center of Excellence in MCH alumna and HRSA NHSC Scholarship recipient, authored the inaugural post of MCH Leads' Health Equity Edition. In her blog post, Anastasia applies MCH Competency # 1, MCH Knowledge Context, and Competency # 11, Working with Communities and Systems, to her experiences as an intern at the National Birth Equity Collaborative, member of the New Orleans MCH Coalition, and to her training and work as a doula through Sista Midwife Productions and the Nashville Volunteer Doula Program.
“The racial disparity in maternal mortality is a direct by-product of structural racism, which further perpetuates discrimination within the healthcare sector. Before we can begin to address health inequities within MCH, it is imperative that we understand Black birthing folks’ healthcare needs."
Continue reading more about Anastasia’s experience here!
5. LinkedIn Page: Connect With Us Today!
We have created an official Center for Leadership in Excellence in Maternal and Child Public Health page. Please feel free to follow our page to connect with MCH professionals, faculty, alumni, current students, and community members. We will be sharing announcements, student and alumni spotlights, events, job openings, and more. Have a job announcement or something else we can share? Email mch@umn.edu.
7. Mini-Lab: Parenting Practices and Childhood Obesity–A Positive Deviance Approach with Dr. Junia De Brito
February 2, 2023 | 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM CDT | Virtual
Qualitative methods are powerful for studying populations whose practices and behaviors have been largely excluded from or undervalued in public health research. Positive deviance is an approach to program development, evaluation, and research which leads to asset-based solutions and messages that come from within and build upon the strengths of communities. It’s been used across the globe to identify low-cost, easily accessible health interventions using community-engaged methods.
In this Learning Lab, Dr. Junia de Brito, Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the UMN Medical School, will share how positive deviance was used to help identify and apply parenting behaviors, practices, and strategies that have aided in preventing childhood overweight and obesity among parents enrolled in the Minnesota Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women Infants and Children (WIC).
In this example, the positive deviance approach highlights a framework for investigating childhood obesity protective practices. Attend this session and learn how this approach could be used to develop strengths-based practices, programs, and services in other public health prevention and intervention efforts.
Attendees at this workshop will learn how to:
Describe the prevalence of childhood obesity in the U.S. and which populations are disproportionately affected by childhood obesity;
Explain the relationship between parent feeding practices and weight outcomes in children;
Define the positive deviance approach to childhood obesity;
Describe how the positive deviance approach to childhood obesity can be used in epidemiological investigations.
9. Mini-Lab: Introduction to Digital Storytelling
April 27, 2023 | 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM CDT | Virtual
Personal narratives are powerful tools for researchers and practitioners alike. They can be used to educate, influence, train, advocate and reflect on public health topics. Harnessing the power of these narratives is an important skill. As a leader in the global storytelling movement, the StoryCenter has decades of experience helping organizations and individuals bolster their storytelling skills. This session features the StoryCenter's Allison Myers, who will provide a brief introduction to digital storytelling and the process of gathering and presenting personal narratives for public health use.
17. Campaign: Hear Her
CDC’s Division of Reproductive Health is committed to healthy pregnancies and deliveries for every woman. The Hear Her campaign supports CDC’s efforts to prevent pregnancy-related deaths by sharing potentially life-saving messages about urgent warning signs. Women know their bodies better than anyone and can often tell when something doesn't feel right. The campaign seeks to encourage partners, friends, family, coworkers, and providers—anyone who supports pregnant and postpartum women—to really listen when she tells you something doesn’t feel right. Acting quickly could help save her life.
