Pregnant People - Key Activity 22

KEY ACTIVITY #22:

Group Postpartum (New Parent) Care

Overview

Group postpartum care represents an opportunity to expand care and relationships established during the prenatal period. While less common than group prenatal care, group postpartum care and new parent groups within community heath settings are an emerging approach. Providing postpartum and well child care in group settings has the potential to improve the provision of care by enhancing patient/provider relationships as well as peer relationships in the postpartum period.^[1]

Action steps and roles

1. Review group postpartum care interventions to identify which model may be appropriate for your practice and the populations it serves.

Suggested team member(s) responsible: Practice leadership, care team, financial lead, billers and coders.

CenteringParenting is the most established postpartum and well child curriculum available in the United States. It may also be more feasible for a CHC to adapt their group prenatal modality for the postpartum setting. Learn about the models through research and by speaking with other health centers or organizations that are conducting group postpartum care as well as reaching out directly to the model developer. Remember that there will be costs associated with training and certifying your practice depending upon the group prenatal care model you select to implement.

2. Assess the health center’s capacity to implement a group care model.

For the assessment, consider patient panel, provider capacity, physical space available to convene the groups, and clinicians and staff who would serve on an implementation team. Note that group postpartum visits require coordination between OB/GYN providers and pediatric providers given the overlapping content and care provided.

3. Educate clinicians and staff on group postpartum care.

Educate health center staff on the value of group care and how it will be integrated into health center care services. Ensure providers and staff have the necessary information and materials to make referrals to group prenatal care. Some group care models (e.g., CenteringPregnancy) may charge for staff training and site certification.

4. Ensure a core implementation team is available to support group postpartum care.

Establish a core implementation team, likely overlapping with group prenatal care team, with dedicated time to implement group postpartum care with fidelity. Ensure facilitators receive necessary training to create a trauma-informed and culturally responsive environment.

5. Conduct continuous quality improvement.

Solicit feedback from individuals who participated in group visits to identify opportunities for program improvement and ensure that the intervention is culturally responsive and trauma-informed. Convene group facilitators and educators for check-ins and sharing of lessons learned and strategies for engagement and group facilitation.

Evidence base for this activity

Gresh, A., Batchelder, A., Glass, N. et al. Adapting group care to the postpartum period using a human-centered design approach in Malawi. BMC Health Serv Res 23, 1098 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-023-10036-2.

McNeil DA, Johnston JC, der Lee GV, Wallace N (2016) Implementing CenteringParenting in Well Child Clinics: Mothers’ Nurses’ and Decision Makers’ Perspectives. J Comm Pub Health Nurs 2:134. doi:10.4172/2471-9846.1000134.