Hear Her Campaign Evaluation

During the visit to the obstetrician's office, the mid adult pregnant woman asks questions about the side effects of the medication the doctor holds in her hand.

Problem

Too many women die each year in the United States from complications related to pregnancy or delivery.

More than 80 percent of pregnancy-related deaths can be prevented. Some groups—especially Black or African American, American Indian, and Alaska Native women—are affected more than others. It is important for pregnant and postpartum women, and the people who support them, to know the urgent maternal warning signs. If something doesn’t feel right, pregnant and postpartum women should share their concerns and talk to a health care professional. To help raise awareness of urgent maternal warning signs, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed the Hear Her campaign with funding from Merck through its Merck for Mothers Program, and supported by the CDC Foundation. The campaign empowers women to speak up about their concerns during and after pregnancy and encourages their support systems to listen. The CDC Foundation wanted to learn how the campaign has affected what people know, how they feel, and what they do when it comes to maternal health.

Solution

NORC is assessing the Hear Her campaign’s effectiveness at increasing awareness of urgent maternal warning signs.

The CDC Foundation contracted with NORC to support an evaluation of Hear Her, a national campaign developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. NORC conducted an innovative, experimentally grounded, mixed-methods pilot evaluation leveraging expertise from the NORC Center for Health Communication Science. The evaluation aimed to assess the campaign’s effectiveness in increasing awareness of urgent maternal warnings among pregnant and postpartum women and those that support them. NORC also evaluated the campaign’s effectiveness at increasing likelihood that pregnant and postpartum women voice concerns to health care professionals.

NORC’s evaluation included random assignment of participants to experimental and control conditions, where feasible, to isolate the effects of campaign exposure. NORC used its probability-based, nationally representative AmeriSpeak panel to recruit participants for surveys that assessed knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. Survey respondents were sampled for qualitative interviews to contextualize findings from survey data and interviews. Populations of interest to the client were oversampled to allow for adequate power to conduct subgroup analysis. NORC will integrate findings from quantitative and qualitative data sources to provide a coherent narrative about the campaign’s impact on pregnant and postpartum women and their support people.

Result

Our findings will inform possible enhancements to Hear Her and other maternal health communication campaigns.

NORC will draw on surveys and other data to assess how exposure to Hear Her messaging and materials influences care-seeking behaviors related
to urgent maternal warning signs and symptoms for pregnant and postpartum women and the people that support them.