Planning a Perinatal Mental Health Intervention for a Post‐Disaster Rural Community: Caregivers' and Women's Perspectives

Mentors Offering Maternal Support (M-O-M-S™) is an intervention to reduce prenatal anxiety among vulnerable women. The aim of this study was to determine its applicability to support pregnant women living in Louisiana's rural Bayou Region after Hurricane Ida. Post-disaster interviews with 22 perinatal/community care providers and 20 pregnant/postpartum women were evaluated using qualitative analysis. Maternal health caregivers described the mental health needs of women using specific themes: (1) Caring for women vulnerable before the disaster, (2) Disaster affects everybody's mental health, (3) Modifying care-being proactive, and (4) Absolute need of the M-O-M-S™ Intervention. Mental health needs expressed by women corresponded to the following themes: (1) Surviving disruptions in motherhood, (2) needing emotional support, (3) finding a way to persevere, (4) M-O-M-S™: Someone to go through this with me. The implementation of science-guided data collection established the foundation for designing a project focused on enhancing maternal mental health post-disaster.