UAB Nurse-Family Partnership Secures $8.8 Million to Expand Maternity Care Access Across Alabama
The University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing Nurse-Family Partnership of Central Alabama has received an $8.8 million Integrated Maternal Health Services grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration. The grant will fund the expansion of the Nurse-Family Partnership of Central Alabama to 27 additional counties in Alabama within the next five years.
Established in 2017 as a branch of the national Nurse-Family Partnership, the program partners pregnant and parenting mothers experiencing adversity related to economic or social barriers with their own personal nurse. The grant will enhance NFP’s current services and increase access to maternity care in Alabama by fully integrating nurse-midwives into the care team and providing additional behavioral health and primary health care services.
“The mothers who participate in our NFP program have better outcomes in preterm birth, breastfeeding and employment as compared to state and county averages,” said Candace Knight, Ph.D., director of the Nurse-Family Partnership of Central Alabama and associate professor in the UAB School of Nursing. “NFP moms also have quick access to mental health treatment should they need it and see improvement in mental health screening scores.”
Program nurses connect mothers with vital resources ranging from prenatal care and nutrition to educational and career opportunities to achieve the best possible outcomes during pregnancy, postpartum and parenting. In addition to the original site in Jefferson County, NFP currently serves Walker, Winston, Fayette, Marion, Lamar, Shelby and Bibb counties. The program has graduated 194 moms since its first cohort completed the program in 2020.
The expansion of the program also provides training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate nursing students — including nurse midwifery students — as well as other health professions students.
“The NFP program benefits families but also nursing and health care professions students by allowing them to see what barriers to health and wellness look like in a community setting,” Knight said. “I hope that, through clinical experiences with NFP, students are able to see health equity in a true light and it changes their future practice for the better.”
The NFP program falls under the UAB School of Nursing Women and Children’s Health Initiative. WACHI’s vision is to ensure a future where women and children in Alabama are not only healthy but thriving and achieving their highest potential.
The NFP program will also work with the UAB-led Alabama Maternal Health Task Force, an initiative aimed at centralizing efforts to improve maternal health across the state. Knight, who is part of the task force’s community engagement work group, and the NFP team will provide education for obstetricians and midwives to promote shared understanding and knowledge.