# Trajectories of Maternal Needs and their Impact on Mother Infant Interactions

> **NIH NIH F31** · DUKE UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $41,358

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
 Mothers experience many needs in the initial 6 weeks postpartum.1–9 Recently, mothers in the US are
experiencing a rising incidence of postpartum hemorrhage, sepsis and preeclampsia,1,2 and reporting more
mental health problems, such as postpartum anxiety or depression, than in 1990s.6,10 Despite increasing
postpartum morbidity and mortality rates, mothers in the United States do not follow-up with a provider until 6
weeks postpartum.12 The timing of this postpartum visit has been debated by the American College of
Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) with increasing evidence that the 6 weeks postpartum visit may be
insufficient.13,14 Current research falls short of describing the trajectory of needs between the time a mother is
discharged from the hospital to the routine follow-up visit at 6 weeks postpartum. The purpose of this
longitudinal mixed method study is to describe the needs of 60 mothers with healthy, infants >37 weeks
gestation at birth during the first 6 weeks postpartum and to explore how maternal needs affect mother-infant
interactions. Asynchronous digital diary data collection will occur through text messages and will allow mothers
to provide data at a time convenient to them and their infants. Data can be collected with limited participant
burden from 1 to 6 weeks postpartum. Additionally, one face-to-face interview at 6 weeks and 2 behavioral
observations at baseline and 6-weeks will allow the researcher to explore gaps using text message data
collection and explore the impact of maternal needs on mother-infant interactions. Using these techniques, this
study aims to 1) Describe the trajectory of maternal needs and resources across the first 6 weeks postpartum
by race/ethnicity, parity and education, and 2) Explore the characteristics of early mother-infant interactions
based on mothers with more or fewer needs.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10462143
- **Project number:** 1F31NR020134-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** DUKE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Bonnie Hepler
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $41,358
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-09-28 → 2024-09-27

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10462143

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10462143, Trajectories of Maternal Needs and their Impact on Mother Infant Interactions (1F31NR020134-01A1). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/10462143. Licensed CC0.

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