Community Health Worker Assessment for Postpartum Health (CAREPATH)

Community Health Worker Assessment for Postpartum Health (CAREPATH)

The goal of this randomized controlled trial is to compare the CAREPATH intervention with standard of care on postpartum outcomes among up to 500 postpartum individuals. The CAREPATH includes 3 postpartum telehealth visits from a perinatal CHW.

The study will address the following aims:

Aim 1: Compare: A) CARE PATH and B) standard of care among postpartum individuals on:

Aim 1.A: postpartum visit completion.

• Hypothesis 1.A: Patients assigned to the CARE PATH will have higher completion of their postpartum visit compared to those receiving standard of care.

Aim 1.B: early detection of postpartum complications.

• Hypothesis 1.B: Patients assigned to the CARE PATH will be more likely to experience early detection of postpartum complications that arise compared to those receiving standard of care.

Aim 1.C: hospital readmission and ED visits postpartum.

• Hypothesis 1.C: Patients assigned to the CARE PATH will be less likely to have hospital readmission or an ED visit compared to those receiving standard of care.

Aim 2: Explore the impact of A) CARE PATH and B) standard of care on reproductive life planning/contraceptive counseling.

• Hypothesis 2: Patients assigned to the CARE PATH will be more likely to report reproductive life planning/contraceptive counseling.

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Postpartum Complication; Health Care Seeking Behavior
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: CAREPATH; Other: Standard of Care

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 500
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Brett Rowland, MA; Phone Number: 4797138661; Email: mbrowland@uams.edu
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Kenny Halloran; Phone Number: 4797138661; Email: khalloran@uams.edu

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age 16-44 years old
• ≤ 38 weeks pregnant
• Ability to speak English, Spanish or Marshallese

Exclusion Criteria:

• Type 1 diabetes on an insulin pump followed closely by endocrinology
• Uncontrolled Type 2 diabetes
• End stage renal disease followed closely by nephrology
• ICU admission at any point during pregnancy or delivery hospitalization
• Other maternal conditions requiring additional surgeries (i.e. cesarean hysterectomy or intrapartum or postpartum oophorectomy/appendectomy)
• Incarceration
• Mental disability limiting decision-making capacity
• Uncontrolled chronic hypertension
• HELLP syndrome during pregnancy
• Sickle cell disease
• Maternal heart condition or heart disease
• Opioid use disorder
• Lupus
• Thrombophilia or blood clots
• Other maternal conditions or complications, known during pregnancy or delivery hospitalization, requiring prolonged hospitalization postpartum

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: CAREPATH; Participants in the CAREPATH arm will receive standard of care plus three telehealth visits from a perinatal community health worker during the first six weeks of the postpartum period. During the visits, participants will be screened for postpartum complications using a symptom monitoring checklist that covers urgent maternal warning signs, as well as anxiety and depression.	Behavioral: CAREPATH; Patients will received standard of care plus three telehealth visits with a perinatal community health worker.
Active Comparator: Standard of Care (SoC); Participants in the SoC arm will receive education on symptoms of postpartum complications and assistance scheduling their postpartum visit with their healthcare provider.	Other: Standard of Care; Patients will receive standard of care which includes: education on postpartum complications symptoms and when to call their healthcare provider, assistance scheduling their postpartum visit, and any healthcare deemed necessary by providers.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Postpartum visit completion	Binary measure (yes/no) of visit completion	6 weeks postpartum

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Arkansas
• Collaborators: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Pearl McElfish, PhD, University of Arkansas

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): July 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): August 31, 2029
• Study Completion (Estimated): August 31, 2029

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 1, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 1, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): May 7, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 7, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 1, 2026
• Last Verified: May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Postpartum care; Postpartum visit; Postpartum complications
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavior; Treatment Adherence and Compliance; Health Behavior; Patient Acceptance of Health Care; Health Services Administration; Health Care Quality, Access, and Evaluation; Quality of Health Care; Quality Indicators, Health Care; Standard of Care
• Other Study ID Numbers: 299245

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No