“Making us feel welcomed”: Developing and implementing a women's health promotion program that incorporates the experience of lived mothering

Studies have shown that social support may positively influence many health outcomes through protection from the adverse consequences of stress. Juggling daily tasks, mothering creates stress and often increases women's isolation. Support groups exist for specialized groups of mothers such as new mothers and mothers of special needs children; however, few programs exist for mothers of older children. This presentation describes the development and implementation of a community-based women's health promotion program. Moms For Moms (M4M) provides women who are actively mothering a place to connect with other mothers—regardless of their children's age or health status—and form a social support and networking group as a way to explore healthy practices and reduce the stresses of daily life. Using analysis of focus groups (N=3) and interviews (N=16) with predominately low-income and working-class mothers of color, this presentation identifies and discusses challenges and benefits women attributed to mothering as well as mothers' preferred program content and logistics. Participants stressed the importance of incorporating mothers' active involvement in both planning and administering the program and were particularly interested in the use of innovative technologies to break down the recognized barrier of mothers' isolation. They found mothering to be rewarding but struggled with parenting as children aged. The presentation describes the use of in-depth interviews, focus groups, electronic diaries, and a community agency partnership to incorporate mothers' suggestions and lived experiences into salient health promotion programming. Implications for incorporating social support models and participatory methods into women's health promotion programming are discussed.