Abating
Maternal
Mortality
The U.S. has the highest maternal death rate among the world’s developed nations, a rate that has continued to rise while remaining stable or falling in other developed countries.
To reduce postpartum maternal mortality, health literacy – the ability to understand & use health information – must be considered. Women must receive better education of potential complications & access to care providers for individualized services & supports that are understandable & culturally relevant.
Grade level at which the average person in the U.S. reads
Of maternal deaths are preventable
Women die every day globally from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth
Improving Maternal Mortality Curriculum
To improve maternal mortality, we developed a FREE innovative curriculum* using an interactive learning module to teach graduate MCH, nursing students, and community health workers critical thinking, communication, and cultural competency skills, improving health literacy practices to increase women’s understanding of abnormal postpartum systems that require emergency medical attention and their ability to seek adequate care.
The purpose of these items is to teach the basic concepts of postpartum education through a health literacy lens. All of the below items are meant to be used together. These items can be done as a 3-4 hours workshop or divided into a 2-part lecture. If divided into 2 parts, the Patient Efficacy and Advocacy section would be a good stopping point.
*This curriculum was developed through a grant from the Association of Teachers of Maternal Child Health.
Curriculum Materials
The Pre-Test is designed to be given at the beginning of the lesson. This will gauge what the audience knows before seeing the presentation and can be prepared to the Post-Test to measure comprehension after completing all the materials. Download
The PowerPoint is the backbone of this lesson. This is designed to be an interactive lesson, complete with activities , class discussions and videos. Participation from the audience is encouraged. Embedded into the slides are instructor notes to guide the facilitator through the presentation with fluidity and ease. In addition, there is a Lesson Plan which outlines the details of the PowerPoint to help keep the facilitator organized.
- Postpartum Education through a Health Literacy Lens: Defining, Understanding & Practicing – presentation slides
- Postpartum Education through a Health Literacy Lens: Defining, Understanding & Practicing – presentation transcript
- Postpartum Education through a Health Literacy Lens: Defining, Understanding & Practicing – narrated presentation (plays from a computer not a mobile device)
- Ask Me Three – English handout
- Ask Me Three – Spanish handout
- What About Mom – English handout
- What About Mom – Spanish handout
- What About Mom – QR code
- What About Mom – app
- Interactive Cultural Competency Training
The Post-Test is identical to the Pre-Test and and should be given after the completion of the entire PowerPoint presentation. Download
This is a fun activity designed to further test concepts of health literacy through an adaption of the popular TV show Jeopardy. Participants can be encouraged to separate into teams and the team with the highest score wins the game. Download
The objective of the Reflection Paper is to “Understand, integrate, and reflect on incorporating health literacy and cultural humility and competency in your MCH teaching.” The instructions are complete with an overview of the purpose of reflection writing and how to effectively address the prompt given. A rubric of how to grade the Reflection Paper is included. Download
Developed by:
Teresa Wagner
DRPH, MS, CPH, RDLD, CPPS
SaferCare Texas, Clinical Executive