Grant: Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

Poor maternal mental health during the prenatal and postpartum periods can negatively affect the health of mothers, babies, and families. Indigenous women experience poorer health relative to other women in Canada; this is related to colonization and ongoing social disparities, as well as challenges in accessing health and social services that meet needs. However, Indigenous women also hold remarkable strength, with traditional culture and strong community serving as sources of healing. Good quality, diverse, and comprehensive data are required to support evidence-based development of policies, programs, and services that meet the needs of urban Indigenous women and families. Research on this topic should be community-driven, participatory, culturally appropriate, culturally safe, and centered in respectful collaborative research partnerships with Indigenous peoples. Research on this topic should also create knowledge and data that will be useful for individuals, communities, healthcare and social service providers, and policymakers. This planning project will bring together key stakeholders to map out gaps in knowledge and data, and create a research action plan, to better understand and more effectively address perinatal mental health in urban Indigenous women in southeastern Ontario. Academic researchers at Queen's University and University of Ottawa are partnering with local Indigenous peoples and with various community organizations in southeastern Ontario to do this project. In addition to producing a research action plan, the planning process itself will also bring together stakeholders and form a network for possible continued collaboration to improve Indigenous maternal-child health in the southeast Ontario region. Moreover, the insights gained and products created from this project can also be useful for understanding and addressing perinatal mental health in Indigenous women in other parts of Canada.