Research Programs
Community Based Women’s Health Research Heading link
The Center for Research of Women and Gender (CRWG) recognizes the importance of addressing the specific health challenges experienced by minoritized women/persons both in urban and rural Illinois. We have been the lead or a collaborator in a number of studies, projects, and initiatives across Illinois.
Innovations to ImPROve Maternal OuTcomEs in Illinois (I PROMOTE-IL)
Members of the CRWG team are involved with I PROMOTE-IL, a multi-faceted initiative aimed at improving maternal health and reducing maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity during pregnancy and through one year postpartum across Illinois
For more information, you can visit the I PROMOTE-IL website. Funded by HRSA; Grant years are 2020-2024.
Emergency Department Maternal Health Toolkit
CRWG has been the lead on an Illinois project to develop a toolkit for Emergency Departments to provide education on pregnancy and postpartum conditions for emergency department providers. The goals are to: (1) ensure that every ED in Illinois asks every pregnancy-capable patient whether they are currently pregnant or have been pregnant within the past year, (2) document the patient’s pregnancy status in the medical record and (3) provide appropriate diagnosis, treatment, and referral as needed. The Toolkit was first piloted in 6 hospitals across Illinois and now will be rolled out across the state.
Funded through IDPH; Grant years are 2023-2026.
Housing Insecurity for Pregnant and Postpartum Persons
CRWG performed the collection and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data gathered from multiple organizations and key stakeholders to describe housing needs among pregnant/postpartum people and families with children under the age of three in Illinois. This project sought to understand and inform the full landscape of homelessness, unmet housing needs, and available housing services and resources for this population in Illinois.
Funded through JB & MK Pritzker Foundation; Grant years were 2022-2024
Please see below for our report, supplementary material, and presentation summarizing our findings. This report presents compelling findings about the challenges faced by pregnant and parenting individuals experiencing homelessness in Illinois.
It explores critical issues around maternal child health and housing insecurity and sheds light on the impact of these intersecting
factors on overlooked, vulnerable populations.
Key highlights from the report include:
- Insights into the health disparities and barriers to healthcare access faced by homeless pregnant and parenting individuals,
- Analysis of the systemic challenges contributing to housing instability and its effects on maternal and child well-being overall,
- The state of funding in Illinois for this vulnerable population, and
- Recommendations for organizations, foundations, community stakeholders, and policy makers to improve support systems and
services for this demographic.
Melanated Group Midwifery Care Heading link
The work related to housing was extended for one year. CRWG is partnered with Start Early and Chicago Coalition for the Homeless to create a Plan to End Homelessness for expectant parents and young children and their families in Illinois.
Funded through JB & MK Pritzker Foundation; Grant years were 2024-2025.
Melanated Group Midwifery Care
CRWG is collaborating on an innovative model of maternity health delivery Melanated Group Midwifery Care (MGMC) that incorporates four evidence-based strategies to improve maternal health care experiences for Black mothers: 1) Racial concordance matching Black midwives and Black patients to increase trust and patient satisfaction 2) Group prenatal care to improve social support, self-efficacy, and health literacy 3) Nurse navigation support during pregnancy and one year postpartum to connect patients to specialty care and wrap-around services and 4) community-based postpartum doula support to address postpartum depression and increase linkages to healthcare for 12 months following birth.
Funded by Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute PCORI)) funded; Grant years are 2021-2026
Promoting Health of Rural Women
CRWG has also been at the forefront of promoting health of rural women, through the US Department of Health and Human Services-funded Coalition for a Healthier Community grant, which aims to improve cardiovascular health in rural southern Illinois women. Informed by the experiences and knowledge of rural women, CRWG staff have designed, implemented, and evaluated behavioral interventions to reduce risk factors for chronic diseases. The success of those initial efforts provides critical groundwork for planned randomized trials of these behavioral interventions. CRWG is ideally positioned to continue this line of research because of its strong academic-community-government partnerships and its focus on community-based collaborative research. We extend our gratitude to our collaborators at the Illinois Department of Public Health Office of Women’s Health, the Southern Seven Health Department, local health centers, community and faith based organizations.
For more information about our work, please contact Lynda Warner.
Global Women's Health Heading link
The Center for Research on Women and Gender (CRWG) has established a firm global footprint in women’s health. Our global research focuses on reducing maternal mortality and morbidity through the prevention of postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) in low-resource settings.
Projects have included a study to compare two dosing strategies for use of misoprostol to prevent PPH in community-level births in rural India, and operations research to implement misoprostol distribution in Ghana, Nigeria, and Tanzania. CRWG has also collaborated in the development of tools, such as a blood collection drape, to aid in the recognition of PPH in low-resource settings. The PPH research has encouraged ministries of health to work on policies to better improve the lives of women.
Other initiatives include collaborations in New Zealand to improve maternal and child health among Maori women and their newborns. Additionally, CRWG has been involved in several studies in New Zealand to test the effectiveness of HPV self-testing to increase the uptake of cervical cancer screening. Some of this work has been replicated in Chicago with minoritized populations.