Towards a mother-centred maternal health promotion

Abstract

Summary A transformative approach to maternal health promotion should be mother-centred, context-driven and grounded in lived experiences. Health promotion can achieve this by drawing on its disciplinary roots to extend and reorient maternal health promotion towards an approach of non-stigmatizing and equitable health promotion that has mothers’ well-being at the centre, particularly giving credit to marginalized, ‘non-normative’ maternities. This article draws on data from 18 workshops EN conducted across Aotearoa New Zealand, including 268 maternal health stakeholders. Drawing on design thinking, participants reimagined what a maternal health promotion approach informed by the Ottawa Charter action areas could comprise. The five themes included building connected systems close to home, developing mothering/parenting skills, addressing upstream determinants, mother-centred care and funding, and creating a collective mothering village. We discuss how these areas could better meet the unique challenges of transitioning to motherhood. Rather than focussing only on individual behaviours, many ideas reveal broader environmental and structural determinants. We link the themes to current literature and advance the agenda for centring the maternal in maternal health promotion.

Missed Opportunities for Addressing Maternal Mental Health: A Thematic Analysis of Mothers’ Experiences of Using the Well Child Tamariki Ora Service in Aotearoa NZ

“…A more holistic approach that transcends predefned parameters of a paternalistic view of maternal health would result in a more culturally responsive service better aligned with M� aori perspectives of health [24,36,39]. Tis shift in approach could provide mothers with the necessary guidance, advice, and encouragement to navigate the challenges of parenthood more efectively [40]. Such an approach also holds the potential to address existing inequities in care.…”