Transdisciplinary and Equitable Approach to Maternal health (TEAM)

The U.S. spends more on maternity care than any other country, and yet maternal death rates have risen since 2000, and the risk of death from pregnancy-related complications is higher than in any other high-income country. Black/African American pregnant women and individuals with lower socioeconomic status disproportionately bear the burden of these outcomes. Multi-sector, multifactorial solutions are needed to solutions to improve in maternal health. In our Maternal Health Research Center of Excellence, we will bring together clinical health professionals, community leaders, researchers, community-based doulas, policymakers, and individuals who provide housing and resources for high-risk pregnancies. Our efforts will provide access to housing, build trust, and improve postpartum care, all grounded in rigorous evaluation that will inform advocacy for sustainable systems- and policy-level change. Coordinating all of these efforts will require transdisciplinary collaborations to integrate individual disciplines and address these complex issues. Our Transdisciplinary Engagement for Advancing Maternal health (TEAM) Community Partnership Component, adapted from a successful Community and Cancer Science Network Framework, will include perspectives that go beyond the boundaries of disciplinary knowledge and co-develop solutions that improve maternal health outcomes across populations. Our central hypothesis is that approaches that integrate cross-sector expertise will help addressing social-structural contributors and improve maternal health outcomes. We will pursue this hypothesis with three specific aims: 1) Create a TEAM that includes experts from research, clinical, population health, and community settings to generate a conceptual model of maternal health in Southeastern Wisconsin, 2) Facilitate engagement across all project components to ensure trusting relationships between all members of the Maternal Health Center of Excellence, and 3) Disseminate results of partnership in government, community, clinical, and academic settings. Short-term, this innovative approach will build bidirectional, sustained partnerships between cross-sector experts dedicated to improving maternal health. Medium-term, the innovative approaches in our grant will improve maternal health outcomes for our study participants and inform policies to improve outcomes locally and nationwide. Long-term, this approach to healthcare partnerships promises to reduce the risk of chronic diseases, cancer, and cardiovascular disease, and improving overall outcomes through an integrated healthcare continuum that spans from birth to pregnancy and beyond.