JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

In the United States, Black mothers and their infants experience higher rates of maternal and infant mortality compared to other racial/ethnic groups. North Carolina, mirrors national trends with worse perinatal outcomes for Black families compared to other groups. Most ongoing efforts to address these disparities focus on policy and systems change. Few initiatives focus on education and resource navigation for families.

Objective:

We aimed to design an online resource hub to provide information to support timely access to care and resources to improve perinatal health outcomes for Black families in Mecklenburg County, the largest metropolitan area in North Carolina.

Methods:

We used an iterative community-informed process, including community member focus groups and organizational partner meetings, to develop and refine the layout and content of an informational website. We conducted focus groups during 2022 and 2023 with Black mothers (n=14) who had given birth in the prior two years or were pregnant. A semi-structured interview guide explored participant perspectives on: (i) information that would be most helpful during the perinatal period; (ii) website usability and content; (iii) appropriateness of imagery and topics; and (iv) effective dissemination strategies. In addition, the research team met regularly with a multisector community partner group to get feedback on website iterations and solicit community resources to include. All content was reviewed for health literacy. Focus group participants were recruited through local clinics and partnering community-based organizations. Participants ranged in age from 17 to 38. Our multisector community partner group included individuals representing public health, patients, providers, social services, and health system leaders. The RE-AIM framework was used for evaluation.

Results:

Key themes for website focus areas included: (i) vetted information presented in lay terminology, with tools to identify local, affordable, culturally competent care; (ii) information related to the week-to-week changes they could expect during pregnancy; and (iii) alternative birthing options. The most common suggestions for improvement related to the navigation, amount of text, color scheme, and the use of images. The final Mecklenburg Birthing Connections resource hub provides educational and informative resources for every stage of the perinatal care journey, from preconception to childcare, and links to community resources to address healthcare and social needs. Results from outreach and marketing efforts to increase awareness of the resource within the community had a broad reach. In person events attracted >800 community members and social media marketing engaged >145,000 unique accounts. Moreover, focus group discussions revealed that Black mothers feel the website addresses important informational needs for Black families.

Conclusions:

Partnership with community members enabled the design of a tailored online tool for providing timely information to educate and empower Black families. Ongoing maintenance and dissemination may help address local inequities in perinatal health outcomes.