Outcome evaluation assesses the goal of the intervention, in our case, to have a measurable improvement in maternal health.

PRISM aimed primarily to reduce maternal depression and improve physical health status for mothers at six months and two years after birth.

In both intervention and comparison communities postal surveys of all mothers who gave birth over an 18 month period from February 2000 to August 2001, measured:

at six months after birth:

the prevalence of maternal depression (utilising the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale - EPDS)

maternal physical health (utilising the SF 36, a well validated health status measure, plus individual items relating to particular health issues)

women's views and experiences of contacts with health services

women's views about their own health and recovery after childbirth, and strategies for dealing with health issues

women's views about how mother-friendly their local communities are

at two years after birth:

the prevalence of maternal depression and maternal physical health status (again utilising the EPDS and the SF-36)

women's experiences of health issues and their contacts with health services n womenÕs views of their local communities

measurement of toddler temperament (utilising the Australian Toddler Temperament Questionnaire)

measurement of parenting stress (utilising the Parenting Stress Index - Short Form)

women's experience of life with a two year old (utilising the Experience of Motherhood Questionnaire)

Primary trial outcomes published!

The six-month maternal health outcome findings of PRISM were made available to participating communities at a meeting held on Thursday 15 December 2005 in Melbourne .

A second meeting with communities was held on 24 February 2006 to discuss the findings further and to distribute individual reports to each of the 16 participating municipalities.

Design by Fr@nk Design. Site construction by Darren Page. Illustrations by Christina Miesen