Institute for Families in Society at the University of South Carolina

On August 22nd, Institute for Families in Society at the University of South Carolina & South Carolina Department of Public Health maternal and child health leadership launched the SC Maternal Health Innovation Collaborative (SCMHIC) Taskforce.

At our kickoff meeting, a dynamic group of clinical and community maternal health leaders from across the state came together to share their motivations for advancing maternal health. We delved into SC’s maternal health data and brainstormed innovative ideas to enhance service delivery, strengthen the workforce, and boost empowerment and health literacy for birthing individuals.

Together, we formulated a strategic workplan for SCMHIC to guide our 5-year efforts to innovate, collaborate, and elevate the future of maternal health in SC.

IFS’s faculty, Ana Lopez–De Fede, PhD, and Sarah Gareau, DrPH, were honored to present on South Carolina’s maternal and child health initiatives at the MHLIC Learning Exchange in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with our partners, Kristen Shealy, MSPH, and Ladrea S. Williams, DrPH from the Department of Health.

Truly inspiring and engaging opportunities to learn from others and share our exciting work.

Join us in congratulating our 2024 Smith Scholarship recipients, Kayla Cipully and Traniah Neal.

Kayla Cipully is a rising senior majoring in psychology and minoring in counseling with plans to become an elementary school counselor specializing in play therapy. She is also a member of Epsilon Sigma Alpha Sorority and Psi Chi, the International Psychology Honor Society.

Traniah Neal is majoring in Psychology with a Minor in Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior. Her commitment to excellence on and off campus has granted her the recognition of her peers and faculty through her involvement with Changing Carolina Peer Leaders and The Black Honors Caucus.

Annually, the award is granted to full-time undergraduate students from the Columbia campus majoring in Psychology, Social Work, Nursing, or Public Health who show promise to expand the IFS mission to advance the science of helping families and vulnerable populations.



To learn more, visit https://ifs.sc.edu/SmithScholarship.html

NEW SC County Profile updates.

Check out updated interactive features available to help improve local health outcomes.

Visit https://www.schealthviz.sc.edu/ to learn more.

A new update with data is available for the dashboard through September 2023.

To help identify opportunities for improved screening and treatment for nearly 1 in 5 birthing persons in SC, you can now view perinatal mental health trends on the maternal safety report.

Visit boi.ifsreports.com.

IFS is proud to share our research AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting in Baltimore! Make a note and join us for these presentations/posters!


Sunday, June 30 – 8:00 am | Nathaniel Bell, PhD

Poster Session: National Analysis of Medicare Network Adequacy Rules and Impact on Primary Care and Behavioral Health Medicaid Managed Care Plans

Monday, July 1 – 1:45 pm | Ana López - De Fede, PhD

Podium Presentation: Chronic Disease and Severe Maternal Morbidity: Implications for Policy and Practice

It has been a privilege to have Sheila Heatley with the Institute for Families in Society for 28 years.

We are grateful for her many contributions, and for the warmth and care, she gave to all of us. While we're sad to see her go, we are excited for her new journey to retirement in July!

All the best, Your IFS Family.

Congratulations Ana López - De Fede, PhD and Sarah Gareau, DrPH 🥳

Kudos to the team at the Institute for Families in Society - Sarah Gareau and Ana Lopez-De Fede were inducted into Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Honor Society. Other inductees include Sally Ride, Albert Einstein, Linus Pauling and Nobel laureates. Congratulations! 🤩 University of South Carolina Health Sciences

We were thrilled to have our Assistant Professor and MCH Team Lead, Sarah Gareau, DrPH, participate with SC partners from BirthMatters in the Project DREAM Inaugural Research Meeting co-hosted by AcademyHealth and the University of Pittsburgh and funded by PCORI.

This meeting brought together doulas, community-engaged health policy scholars, and Medicaid policy leaders to learn collaboratively from one another in support of this multidisciplinary PCORI-funded doula research.

We look forward to the impact that Project DREAM may have on reducing inequities in maternal health outcomes.

When caught early, preeclampsia is treatable and can result in a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery for birthing persons and their newborns.

To help improve maternal health outcomes, a part of our work includes tracking and reporting maternal health and hospital outcomes data for the SC AIM Severe Hypertension in Pregnancy bundle with findings reported back to the SCBOI Quality & Patient Safety Workgroup.

Join us in celebrating



Learn more here:

SC AIM: https://www.schealthviz.sc.edu/aim

Bundle: https://saferbirth.org/psbs/severe-hypertension-in-pregnancy/

Dashboard: https://boi.ifsreports.com/statewide/aim.html

NEW! Free naloxone (listed as Opioid OD Kits) is available at one or more DHEC sites in most counties.

Go to https://scdhec.gov/health/health-public-health-clinics to find addresses and phone numbers.

Check out our staff's furry friends for . Celebrate with us by commenting with a pic of your pet.

Remember to schedule your pet’s routine veterinary visits to keep them healthy!

Mental health conditions were the leading cause of pregnancy-related death in SC (SCMMRC, 2024). A trio of new National Institutes of Health (NIH) studies reported in Health Affairs show that diagnosis and treatment of mental health conditions among perinatal patients are on the rise, but that there are gaps in access by age, race, ethnicity, and geography.

Know someone in SC who may need help?
Call MUSC Health Mom's IMPACTT at 843-792-MOMS.

Diagnosis and Treatment of Mental Health Conditions During and After Pregnancy is On the Rise, But Disparities Still Exist Pregnancy and childbirth are often thought of as joyful times. Yet, we know that mental health conditions including perinatal depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are comm…

This , IFS stands with the to support the many resources provided to support individuals with autism. Over 75,000 adults and 32,000 children in South Carolina have been diagnosed with autism.

Check out the SC Autism Society https://scautism.org and SCDDSN https://ddsn.sc.gov/ddsn-divisions/autism and the SC autism waiver, which provides expanded coverage for the 1 in 31 children enrolled in SC Healthy Connections Medicaid who have a primary diagnosis of autism.

1.3 million (1 in 5) South Carolina residents are enrolled in Medicaid.

As the 4th oldest University-Medicaid Partnership in the Nation, IFS participates in the State-University Partnership Learning Network (SUPLN), which has as its overarching goal improving Medicaid’s cost and quality of care. As a result, a large aspect of IHPR’s work is a technical assistance and research partnership with SC’s Medicaid agency, the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (SCDHHS).


https://files.kff.org/attachment/fact-sheet-medicaid-state-SC

New updates are now available on the SC Birth Outcomes Initiative portal website. Use the SCBOI Dashboard to review data on SC maternal deliveries, newborn outcomes, and maternal safety metrics through June 2023.

Visit boi.ifsreports.com to learn more.

Founded by the Black Mamas Matter Alliance, Black Maternal Health Week is a week of awareness, activism, and community-building aimed at amplifying the voices of Black Mamas and centering the values and traditions of the reproductive and birth justice movements.

As part of a PCORI grant with Dr. Connie Guille, Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), the Institute for Families in Society at the University of South Carolina is H.E.A.R. 4 Mamas by aiming to improve Black maternal health by leveraging technology to improve early detection/care for postpartum complications.

This year marks the 7th Annual Black Maternal Health Week, which will be held from April 11-17, 2024!

To uplift Black women and their families, we at the Institute for Families in Society at the University of South Carolina are joining forces with Black Mamas Matter Alliance (BMMA) to center Black women’s scholarship, maternity care work, and advocacy across the full-spectrum of sexual, maternal, and reproductive health care, services, programs, and initiatives.

Join us today! Learn more at blackmamasmatter.org/bmhw

In the U.S., Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy related cause than White women. CDC notes that more than 80% of pregnancy related deaths are preventable. IFS is pleased that Columbia is highlighting the importance and need for better maternal care for Black women by hosting its first Black Maternal Health Week with a series of events below:


Yoga in the Park: April 7 at MLK Park
Talk with a Doc: April 12 & 17 at Richland Library
Birthing Justice Movie Screening: April 13 at Epic Events

South Carolina is consistently among the top 5 states with the highest rates of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs). IFS analysis shows that the number and rate of STIs in pregnant mothers in South Carolina are also climbing.

During National Public Health Week, let’s make reproductive care and screening for cancers and STIs common and accessible to all. www.NPHW.org

Dr. Cheri Shapiro, a research professor at the University of South Carolina’s College of Social Work at South Carolina and director of the Institute for Families in Society at the University of South Carolina, provides solutions on how parents and caregivers can instill problem-solving skills and decision-making in their children.

Learn more here:

Teaching problem solving to children It’s inevitable that children of all ages will struggle with the social and academic expectations of their years in school. Parents can easily feel overwhelmed with providing answers, especially as children continue to struggle with stress and anxiety from the disruptions of pandemic shutdowns. Ch...

We were excited to have our IT Manager, Dale Purvis, participate in the Spring SC Information Technology Director’s Association (SCDITA) conference this year.

provides a great opportunity to network and exchange information, ideas, and experiences with other State IT leaders across South Carolina and to learn directly about new and emerging technologies from major vendors, setting the stage for collaboration on future IT opportunities.

March is ! Did you know 90% of people with stage 3 chronic kidney disease don't
know they have it? (CDC, Chronic Kidney Disease in the United States, 2021)

Spread the word about the importance of kidney health by talking to your friends and family. Learn how to protect your kidney health with tips from National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)

Dr. Cheri Shapiro, IFS Director, shares her research on “COVID-19 Pandemic Impacts on Youth: Pathways, Opportunities, and Interventions” at the Delaware Psychological Association.

Congratulations to Institute for Families in Society at the University of South Carolina, Assistant Professor and MCH Team Lead Team Lead, Sarah Gareau, DrPH who recently received a beautiful acknowledgement from Dr. Georges Benjamin, Executive Director, American Public Health Association for Dr. Gareau’s four years of service as an elected member of its Executive Board, a culmination of nearly two decades of engagement with APHA.

IFS is proud and grateful for her leadership both in SC and nationally.

Dr. Cheri Shapiro, IFS Director, provides practical strategies to help parents support their children’s emotional behavior.

Learn more about her research here:

Managing emotional behavior for children It’s natural for anyone to become anxious or scared about entering a new environment. As children cope with their anxieties, parents can help by building routines to follow.

Congratulations, Dr. Sarah Gareau, Assistant Professor and Maternal & Child Health Team Lead for representing at the Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (AIM) 2024 Data Learning Institute held in DC at The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) headquarters.

She and ACOG colleagues Inderveer Saini and Christina Driskill presented a workshop on using and designing data collection plans/tools.

IFS Associate Director Kathy Mayfield-Smith was invited by USAging and the ARCH National Respite Network and Resource Center to participate in a national caregiving workgroup. This workgroup is comprised of Aging Network professionals, researchers and experts from the caregiving network, and family caregivers to help address the topic area of: Leveraging and building upon existing work to advance the availability of flexible and accessible respite care.

ARCH National Respite Network and Resource Center will work with workgroup participants to develop a Respite Guide and provide recommendations for respite programs and interventions to be included in a caregiving Services and Supports Innovations Hub.

With funding from the Administration on Community Living, USAging is convening 10 workgroups to expand and enhance the capacity of the Aging Network to strengthen and spur innovation in the development and implementation of person and family-centered services and supports that meet the diverse needs of the nation’s caregivers.

The Institute for Families in Society (COSW/UofSC) is hiring a Mixed Methods Health Scientist in our Division of Integrated Health and Policy Research. As part of our Maternal & Child Health and Health Equity Evaluation Team, you can make a real difference.

Ideal candidates will have strong community engagement, qualitative research, and process/implementation evaluation skills and experience.

Apply Here: https://uscjobs.sc.edu/postings/164207

On this National Caregivers Day, we celebrate the nearly 800,000 family caregivers in SC (over 53 million in the US) caring for a child, adult or older adult with disabilities, special health needs, dementia, or other aging related challenges.

We encourage caregivers to regularly take a break to rest and recharge. It is OK to ask for help. See examples of the Faces of Respite at the South Carolina Respite Coalition website.

https://youtu.be/SuCoj50yJO8?si=t3A5FPzQVHqa2AMl

SC Respite: Faces of Respite Hear from families that have been impacted by respite.