MOMentum: A Qualitative Approach to Empower First-Time Mothers' Confidence and Early Care Experiences
This is a TRP Capstone research project. View more projects in our directory.
Our project addresses the need to help new mothers be more confident in their care decision-making surrounding a perceived uncertain neonatal symptom. We're exploring care-seeking behaviours when mothers encounter unfamiliar symptoms and turn to the unscheduled care visits. Our ultimate goal is to use a human-centered approach to understand the stressors driving these decisions and co-create tools that genuinely support maternal confidence.
Background
This study aims to identify key stressors experienced by first-time mothers who have visited the SickKids Emergency Department within the 90-days postpartum period, specifically when making care decisions when their infant is exhibiting new or unfamiliar symptoms, as well as understand how these stressors influence care-seeking behaviours. A two-phase retrospective qualitative design will be applied: Phase 1 involves focus groups to identify prioritized stressors according to mothers’ lived experiences and perspectives, followed by co-design workshops with the same participants to develop a prototype intervention according to identified stressors. Phase 2 will involve evaluating this prototype with a new cohort of postpartum mothers. Participants will be recruited directly from the SickKids Emergency Department.
