Maternal mental health is a critical public health component of perinatal care and maternal safety. Postpartum depression can have lasting consequences for the mother, child, and family. After each birth, 1 in 7 women will experience postpartum depression.

A team of researchers from Michigan State University, Care New England Health System, and Henry Ford Health is collaborating on a $6.2 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) mental health research grant, “The ROSE Scale-Up Study: Informing a decision about ROSE as universal postpartum depression prevention.”

The Reach Out, Stand Strong, Essentials for New Mothers (ROSE) program, funded by NIH through the end of 2022, has served low-income women at 98 prenatal clinics. Study findings show that ROSE prevents half of the cases of postpartum depression. Additionally, health care and community agencies find it is more feasible to provide ROSE as universal prevention for all women.

“The newly funded program will be the first study to look at the effectiveness of postpartum depression among a general population of women and women screening negative for postpartum depression risk,” said Caron Zlotnick, PhD, one of two PIs on the grant and Professor of Psychiatry, OB/GYN and Internal Medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Director of Research for the Department of Medicine at Women and Infants Hospital. “If we find the intervention is effective, we can work to scale up the program, strengthen families while supporting moms, and reduce costs within the healthcare system.”