How to build a bridge for community-campus engagement:
The Maternal and Child Health Research Consortium
Research Agenda Development
Maternity Care Coalition (MCC) recognized the importance
of research in developing and testing effective strategies to
address community-based problems and made a
commitment to developing a research agenda. After
obtaining support from a local Foundation, the organization
hired a full-time, Ph.D. level Research Director to implement
and grow a research agenda addressing the needs of
pregnant and parenting women in low income Philadelphia
communities. Academic partners have shown such strong
interest in research collaborations that we established the
Maternal and Child Health Research Consortium, dedicated
to promoting community-academic engagement.
Mogul ,Care
Ph.D.
Background Marjie
of the Maternity
Coalition
Director of Research and Evaluation
Founded in 1980, Maternity Care Coalition
(MCC)
is
a
nonprofit
organization
with
Maternity Care Coalition
the mission to improve maternal and child health and wellbeing through the
collaborative efforts of individuals, families, providers and communities. Our
comprehensive approach includes research, public policy initiatives and services
for families.
Traditional
Scientific
Research
Bench Science
Successful Funded Research Collaborations
MCC and psychologists from The University of
Pennsylvania (Penn) and Children’s Hospital of
Philadelphia (CHOP) collaborated on a successful NIMH
R21 CBPR grant: “Facilitating Effective Referrals for
Perinatal Depression” in which we developed a mental
health referral intervention and are now revising the
manual for community health workers to facilitate the
entrance of women into the behavioral health system.
Communitybased
Research
COMMUNITYACADEMIC
ENGAGEMENT:
Bringing Together
Science and the
Community
Science
Research Consortium Membership
• Mission: To facilitate the translation and dissemination of
effective strategies to address maternal and child health
issues in the local community.
• Inter-disciplinary and cross-institutional
• Approximately 40 members; 10+ institutions
Clinical Trials
Community
Adoption
Community
Based
Center
Marjie Mogul, Ph.D.
Director of Research and Evaluation
Clinical
Trials
MCC and pediatrician-internists from Penn and CHOP
implemented the “Postpartum Weight Management
Study” with funding from Penn and Aetna Foundation,
finding that two-way motivational text messaging and
environmental aids can reduce weight and depression
risk, and increase self-efficacy. The next step is a costeffectiveness analysis and dissemination trial.
Community Adoption
Future
o
Growth
Community
Trial
National and International Interest
•
The “Mother’s Reentry Study” is an examination of the
parenting experience of mothers leaving jail. MCC is leading a
multi-disciplinary team of collaborators including a nurse, a
social worker, a medical doctor and a criminologist from three
universities. The next phase of the project is to study
“successful community reentry”.
•
MCC hosted, in conjunction with nursing faculty at Drexel
University, an international summit of visiting scholars from
Israel, “Collaborations across borders: Improving maternal
health locally & globally”.
•
Continue to lead collaborations to effectively
disseminate scientific research into the community
and engage community members in the research
process
Establish topical sub-groups, for example:
incarceration and reentry, perinatal depression and
health and wellness
Create a workforce development center for
educating future maternal and child health
professionals