MotherWise Virtual Relationship Education for Pregnant and Postpartum Women During COVID

Dr. Galena Rhoades, Research Professor in the Psychology Department at the University of Denver, has completed her MRI funded study of the MotherWise program. This program, offered by Thriving Families in Denver, Colorado during pregnancy and postpartum, strives to support mothers during this period and to empower them and their families to thrive. MotherWise uses the evidence-based Within My Reach curriculum and information about caring for and connecting with newborns. Additionally, each MotherWise client has a dedicated family support coordinator who works with each mother one to one to assist them to apply new skills and connect with community resources.

In-person, the program is delivered in six weekly sessions of four hours per session. Dr. Rhoades’ previous research indicated that compared with no treatment, MotherWise clients have 55% less risk for preterm birth, and improved relationship outcomes 12 months later. During the pandemic the program transitioned to all virtual services. Enrollment and case management was typically done over the phone and all workshops (18 hours total) were offered via video conferencing.

This study compared six months of data collected on in-person services (before the COVID pandemic began) to six months of data collected on virtual services during the pandemic. Results indicate that the MotherWise program is equally effective when delivered in-person as when delivered virtually. Satisfaction with the program was high in both modalities. The data indicated that virtual services may have reached even more women who identify as minorities (18% Black in-person vs. 23% Black virtual; 46% born outside the US in-person vs. 55% born outside the US virtual). These findings indicate that virtual services may help Thriving Families reach underrepresented populations even more. With these results, Dr. Rhoades and her team expanded their virtual services beyond the Denver metro area to rural areas where in-person programs are unavailable due to small populations. Over the course of the last two years, during the pandemic, they have served more than 900 women with MotherWise. Beginning next month they will resume hybrid programming, running virtual and in-person groups again for the first time since March 2020.