title: What new mothers need to know: perspectives from women and providers in Georgia.
abstract: Identifying the educational and resource needs of new mothers is of paramount importance in developing programs to improve maternal and child health outcomes. The primary purpose of this study was to explore the educational needs of new mothers and identify opportunities to enhance healthcare providers' current educational efforts. A two-part methodology was utilized to qualitatively explore the topic of parenting information needs for new mothers in Georgia. Data collection included information from 11 focus groups with 92 first-time, new mothers and 20 interviews with healthcare providers who serve new mothers. Discussions with both new mothers and providers clearly indicated that new mothers face a significant informational deficit, especially regarding very basic, daily infant care information and health literacy challenges. Educational materials already exist; however, mothers report difficulty accessing and understanding this information. For this reason, both the mothers and the providers stressed a focus on developing programs or interventions that allow in-person education and/or alternative modalities to access information, as opposed to development of new written materials solely. Information from the focus group and interviews provided important insight regarding what improvements need to be made to help new mothers and their families during the early stages of parenthood. By improving the education of new mothers and their families, it is proposed that maternal and infant health status could be improved.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Road NE, Room 3019, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA, jagazma@sph.emory.edu.
authors.forename: Julie A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Gazmararian
authors.forename: Safiya George
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Dalmida
authors.forename: Yesenia
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Merino
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Blake
authors.forename: Winifred
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gaydos
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002669:Child Welfare; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016208:Databases, Factual; D004522:Educational Status; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D005845:Georgia; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007224:Infant Care / Q000379:methods*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D020380:Needs Assessment; D016487:Parenting; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult