The state of maternal mortality in the United States (U.S.) highlights a significant public health crisis, marked by persistent high rates compared to other high-income countries. Data shows significant racial disparities for Black birthing people during the pregnancy and postpartum phase, being three to four times more likely to die during these periods. More specifically, half of all deaths occur during the postpartum period when many are not receiving routine standard medical care like during pregnancy. Healthcare leaders must reimagine models of care during the postpartum period to help improve long-term outcomes. Many other high-income countries such as the United Kingdom, Netherlands, and Australia comprise more frequent touch points, and various models of care during the postpartum period.

In this body of work, I focus on improving postpartum care delivery by laying out the current landscape and engaging in innovative frameworks with Black postpartum people. In the first paper, I conduct a scoping review of the recent literature on the current and existing postpartum care programs and models in the United States published between 2003 and 2023. This paper documents the evolution of postpartum interventions in the past two decades by highlighting a shift from behavioral health approaches to more comprehensive models incorporating social determinants and racial concordance. In the second paper, through semi-structured interviews, I conduct original research with 25 Black postpartum people from four counties in California; Alameda, Contra Costa, San Bernadino, and Los Angeles to evaluate their needs and desires for one year postpartum. In the third paper, I extend the individual analysis to highlight the importance of a human-centered design approach to create solutions to improve postpartum care in the United States. This research emphasizes the need for extended, tailored postpartum care to address maternal health disparities and enhance overall well-being during the fourth trimester and beyond.