KDH Research & Communication (KDHRC) proposes to develop and evaluate Effective
Newborn Community-Outreach Recovery Engagement (ENCORE), which will train community
health workers (CHW) to support postpartum Black Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC)
women. ENCORE-trained CHWs will conduct outreach to postpartum BIPOC women,
particularly women who no longer receive care from doulas and midwives (birth workers), filling
a gap in critical postpartum time and providing a seamless transition in care for women.
Maternal complications are more common in BIPOC populations than in White populations.
And although many BIPOC women receive care from birth workers, BIPOC women still need
support after the woman no longer receives support from the birth workers. Indeed, postpartum
mothers often experience a gap in care in care during the critical postpartum period.
CHWs are ideally positioned to fill this gap and educate and support postpartum BIPOC
women due to deeply established connections to their communities and the proven effectiveness
of CHW outreach for positive behavior change, including reaching women with health-changing
information and skills-development. Therefore, ENCORE will train CHWs to conduct effective
outreach to postpartum BIPOC women, supporting women to navigate barriers to health care
and implement strategies to improve their mental and physical health.
The ENCORE prototype will consist of the introduction and two full online course lessons with
text, animatics, and rough-cut interactive learning experiences. In Phase I, we will develop the
ENCORE prototype with feedback from an advisory committee in alignment with CHW best
practices, the needs of postpartum BIPOC women, and scientifically accurate information. We
will evaluate the ENCORE prototype in a randomized, two-group study that empirically assesses
knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy among CHWs to provide support to postpartum women after
prototype exposure. The Phase I project will prepare us for Phase II expansion and a rigorous
randomized controlled trial of the impact of CHW outreach on postpartum BIPOC women.
When complete, ENCORE will be marketed through KDHRC's robust sales system that uses
email and interpersonal outreach to promote and support adoption of our suite of
CHW/promotores training programs. ENCORE is innovative because it will reach an
underserved, at-need population with a culturally competent intervention that will support, fill
the gap in care for, and ultimately improve quality of life among postpartum BIPOC women.
