Research Project Summary
The overall aims of the SNJ Perinatal Population Health Data Hub are to reduce disparities in maternal and infant health and well-being in the southern New Jersey region and to advance maternal and infant health through innovative use of perinatal population health data, community-engaged research strategies, and data-driven practice innovation. Barriers to maternal and infant prevention and treatment resources exist at patient, provider, and systems levels in SNJ. These barriers contribute to persistent geographic, socio-economic, and racial disparities in outcomes among moms and their infants, and the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated these disparities. Comprehensive data on maternal and infant wellbeing in the context of race/ethnicity and social determinants on regional or county levels continue to be limited despite the growing emphasis on large datasets and metrics in population health that focus more on national or state levels rather than regions or other smaller geographic areas. Enhanced use of de-identified population-level and programmatic data across regions and within counties, along with the engagement of community partners, can more effectively identify gaps, target health resources and guide practice changes to close gaps in access and quality of care. The SNJ Perinatal Population Health Project will identify disparities and their determinants by creating a data dashboard on maternal and infant health and well-being indicators, design a research data core to support causal studies, and conduct pilot studies of providers and patients to inform the design of the dashboard, the perinatal population data core, and potential practice innovations.
Research Project Goals
• Develop a data dashboard and metrics to identify and monitor gaps in access to and use of perinatal and infant screening and treatment resources in the SNJ region and counties.
• Conduct pilot studies of patient and provider perceptions of barriers and facilitators of care access and use among diverse populations.
• Design a research-ready data set composed of de-identified population-level data that can identify social and other determinants of adverse and resilient health outcomes among mothers and infants in SNJ.
Research Project Objectives
• Select relevant metrics and data sets for the data dashboard and research data core, establish data use agreements with appropriate agencies, and seek approvals from the institutional review boards of Rowan University and Rutgers University as needed.
• Conduct a focus group study of mothers with lived experiences of perinatal mood disorders on perceived barriers/facilitators to accessing care and examine provider perspectives through an on-line survey of front-line maternity and pediatric providers .
• Populate the data dashboard with most recent data available.
• Conduct a preliminary causal analysis of social and other determinants of health and selected maternal-infant health outcomes using available datasets in the maternal-infant health research data core.