Project Summary/Abstract
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS), Division of Public Health (DPH) is
applying to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the Pregnancy Risk
Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) Funding Opportunity Announcement Number: RFP-
DP-16-001, U01, Component A: Core Funding. PRAMS is an ongoing survey, conducted by the
CDC and state health departments, of mothers who recently had a live birth. PRAMS is an
essential tool in maternal and child health program and policy development, monitoring, and
evaluation and is a key source of information on disparities in birth outcomes and their risk
factors. This third cycle of funding will allow Wisconsin PRAMS to continue and meet the
objectives below and investigate Wisconsin's racial and ethnic disparities during the project
period May 1, 2016 – April 30, 2021.
The objectives of Wisconsin PRAMS are as follows: (1) to understand better how behaviors,
attitudes, and experiences before, during, and immediately after pregnancy relate to and
influence maternal and infant outcomes; (2) to collect population-based data of high quality not
found in other data sources; and (3) to translate results into information for planning and
evaluating public health programs and policy. Wisconsin PRAMS conducts a survey of a
random sample of mothers (stratified by race/ethnicity and geography) who have had a recent
live birth. The survey asks about maternal experiences and perspectives related to their social
and economic conditions, health behaviors, health conditions, and health care before, during,
and shortly after pregnancy. The first funding cycle, 2006 – 2011, was primarily focused on the
design of operating procedures, research, and protocol, including the sample methodology. The
second cycle, 2011 – 2016, focused on maintaining data collection procedures and improving
response rates, expanding the non-Hispanic black oversample in several counties in
collaboration with the Wisconsin Partnership Program's Lifecourse Initiative for Healthy Families
(LIHF) in order to enhance our ability to investigate disparities, and increasing dissemination of
data for program planning. Results from the PRAMS survey provided compelling, stark, and
unique evidence of major racial and ethnic disparities in social determinants of health,
preconception health, health behaviors, pregnancy intention, stress, postpartum depression,
and safe sleep practices.
In this third cycle, 2016 – 2021, WI PRAMS, in partnership with LIHF, will expand its oversample
to an additional key county and to non-Hispanic whites in these key counties to increase power
to detect differences by race/ethnicity and geography and to provide communities with county-
specific information to drive and evaluate local-level strategic prevention efforts. WI PRAMS will
also explore innovative data collection methods and means of improving response rates; pursue
new and enhance existing partnerships for supplemental funding and bringing data to
meaningful action; and implement a Data to Action plan that is informed by partners, tailored to
intended audiences, disseminated through appropriate channels, and leads to improved health
outcomes for women, infants, children, and ultimately entire families.