Maternal Health Experience
The Maternal Health Network uses relevant data to inform the experience of families accessing maternal health services before, during, and after pregnancy.
In 2019, the Maternal Health Network developed and distributed a survey throughout the county designed to help providers understand what kind of services are needed to support the health and well-being of mothers and their newborns and what components of the system could work better in the pregnancy and postpartum stages.
Understanding the importance of centering the voices of individuals who are planning to get pregnant, those that are pregnant, and those that have recently delivered in quality improvement efforts, in 2020 the Network embarked upon a process to relaunch the consumer survey. Increasing equity in maternal health outcomes and experiences, specifically amongst Black and African American families, is one of the five goals that drive the MHN’s 2020-2025 strategic plan. In summer 2021 the Perinatal Equity Initiative staff identified the opportunity to support this goal by utilizing the 2020-21 consumer survey responses to gain a better understanding of the experiences specifically of Black and African American participants within the maternal health system. These efforts resulted in the 2021 Consumer Survey Brief: Experiences of Black and African American Families in the Maternal Health System.
Both the 2019 and 2021 Consumer Survey Reports, as well as the 2021 Consumer Survey Brief, are available as downloadable PDFs.
2021 Consumer Report Survey
Key results of the 2021 Consumer Survey are available below. The full 2019 and 2021 reports can be accessed at the links above. The raw survey data used to generate the 2021 Consumer Survey Report is available to MHN members for use in their own research. To request this data, please email maternalhealthnetworksb@gmail.com and include a brief description of the research you will be conducting with this dataset.
Methodology
In 2019 members of the Maternal Health Network approved a 17-question survey tool which was distributed through the Network. Results of the 154 surveys completed in 2019 can be found in the 2019 Consumer Survey Report.
In 2020 this survey tool was refined through a collaborative effort between Cal Baptist, the Black Infant Health Project, and other members of the Maternal Health Network. Feedback on the 2019 survey and the identification of other areas of inquiry was solicited from MHN membership in May 2020 and the survey tool was finalized in June of the same year.
Throughout 2020 and 2021 a total of 253 surveys were completed by consumers from across the county. The number of responses varies for each question as not all respondents answered every question on the survey. When relevant, responses have been disaggregated by race/ethnicity (indicated by a blue icon) and insurance coverage (by a green icon) to highlight discrepancies and the need for equitable system improvements for these demographic categories. Some questions were also disaggregated by poverty status, but no meaningful results were seen and are thus not presented.