Unveiling complexities: Examining the role of traumatic loss in shaping the interplay between black maternal mental health and maternal bonding.

Black women are more likely to experience traumatic birthing events, more likely to experience perinatal depression, and less likely to receive mental health treatment than women of other racial and ethnic backgrounds, and yet largely overlooked in perinatal mental health research. This pilot study seeks to understand how unacceptable racial disparities and adverse perinatal outcomes influence Black maternal depression and maternal bonding by exploring how prior traumatic loss moderates the relationship between depression and bonding during a subsequent pregnancy among a sample of Black mothers. We use survey data collected from 75 Black mothers as part of the Black Fathers, Equal Partners in Promoting Maternal and Infant Health study, a collaboration between the University of Wisconsin Madison and the African American Breastfeeding Network in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.

Improving Infant Mental Health Home Visiting Training to Strengthen Cultural Responsiveness and Increase Equity.

Infant Mental Health Home Visiting (IMH-HV) is a needs-driven, relationship-based home visiting intervention with demonstrated positive outcomes for parents and young children. Prior research found that higher therapeutic alliance (TA) was associated with improved program retention and provider race affected TA and retention for clients. The objective of this quality improvement project was to inform improvements to IMH-HV provider trainings to better prepare providers to effectively engage and support diverse families.

Black fathers' contributions to maternal mental health.

This mixed-methods research study aimed to assess the contribution of interparental relationship quality and paternal support for mothers to maternal mental health among Black parents in a metro area characterized by severe racial disparities. We also explored Black parents' understanding of meaningful paternal support for mothers. Using survey data collected from Black mothers (N = 75), we examined correlations among the study variables, then conducted mediation and moderation analyses to examine whether relationship quality would mediate the association between paternal support and maternal mental health and to test whether relationship quality would moderate the association between paternal support and maternal self-reported overall health.