Under a new pilot program, sailors, Marines and their dependents in select locations who are new moms will be able to meet with registered nurses for help with unique maternal physical and mental health conditions that some face throughout pregnancy and after giving birth.
Active duty mothers and military spouses are at a greater risk of facing mental health challenges during and after pregnancy because of the realities of military life. A combination of cultural stigmas and barriers to health care can exacerbate the problem, a federal watchdog found.
The Congressionally chartered Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society has been around for 102 years with a program dedicated to bringing nurses into the homes of military families. With the First Year Focus program, trained nurses can provide help with infant growth and feeding services and do home visits to help with common maternal physical health issues like hypertension or preeclampsia with routine blood pressure monitoring.
“Our specific goal is to meet the unique challenges of military life with personal and compassionate care,” retired Navy Capt. Rosemary Perdue, director of the relief society’s Visiting Nurse Program, told Task & Purpose. “Our nurses know these duty stations very well. They have excellent contacts in the areas and many of the military families may be new to an area and they perhaps don’t have an established network.”
The pilot will initially serve Navy and Marine Corps moms at locations in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and New England with the hopes of collecting data on what patients are asking for and expanding those services to other areas.
One of the number one reasons that families may be referred to their program is for infant feeding and growth monitoring help.
“Feeding difficulties can be incredibly stressful for parents and we see more tears over concerns about a baby’s weight than anything else,” she said. “Proper weight gain is essential for infants to reach their developmental milestones, so we work really closely with families to develop personalized feeding plans and interventions to help.”
At the heart of the program, Perdue said, is the fact that nurses can do virtual or home visits and work with military family schedules. A 2022 Government Accountability Office report noted that getting childcare or finding appointments when their spouse is off of work can pose barriers to accessing maternal health resources.
“One of the key benefits of the home visit is the ability to conduct a more comprehensive assessment in the patient’s home environment,” Purdue said. “Typically where an appointment might be 15-20 minutes in a clinic our visits allow for deeper discussions and more personalized care to address any kind of concerns that the patients may have.”
With flexible home visits, Perdue said that nurses can do more frequent blood pressure monitoring and personalized education on warning signs for maternal health conditions like preeclampsia, one of the leading causes of maternal morbidity.
Active duty service members face maternal mental health issues two to three times higher than their civilian peers, according to the GAO. By analyzing TRICARE data, the GAO found that “as many as 41%” of military mothers had a mental health diagnosis or prescribed medication to treat mental health.
The report pointed to other research which found that limited social support, spouse deployments, and a culture of “service before self” put them at greater risk for depression and anxiety during and right after pregnancy.
“We recognize that maternal mental health conditions are twice as prevalent in the military population,” Purdue said. “Just being in the military puts you at risk.”
The program will also work on educating patients on the signs and symptoms of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders “helping them to understand what to look for and where to turn for help,” she said.
A common indication for a patient developing a maternal mental health condition is whether they have a history of depression or another mood disorder. With a nurse, Perdue said they can help moms understand their “baseline,” and connect them with resources if necessary. Another common other factor is an external stressful event, which in the military can include deployments, constant moves, and long separation periods from family and friends.
Perdue emphasized that the program is for every Navy or Marine Corps spouse or mom who is on active duty.
“Perinatal struggles, including mental health conditions, affect individuals across all demographics regardless of age, race, ethnicity, or social-economic status. We at First Year Focus want to emphasize accessibility and equitable care,” she said. “I don’t want anybody to think that they don’t meet the need to be able to be part of this program.”