# Mothers Optimizing Resources Everyday (MORE): Buffering mental health inequities in low-resourced perinatal populations

> **NIH NIH K01** · UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER · 2024 · $126,746

## Abstract

Project Abstract
Charlotte Farewell, PHD, MPH is a behavioral health scientist whose overarching career goal is to implement
well-being promotion programs during critical periods to reduce inequities in perinatal mental health outcomes
among low-resourced individuals. The research she proposes entitled, “Mothers Optimizing Resources
Everyday (MORE): Buffering Mental Health Inequities in Low-resourced Perinatal Populations,” aligns with
numerous NIMHD research strategies including strengthening analytical models to identify critical periods of
malleability to mitigate the intergenerational transmission of disparities, advancing understanding of how multi-
level protective factors impact health, and building the science of adapting behavioral health interventions.
Candidate: Dr. Farewell is an Assistant Professor of Community and Behavioral Health at the Colorado
School of Public Health. The proposed career development plan includes four training goals: 1. Advance
expertise in latent growth modeling; 2. Gain skills in adaptation of perinatal mental health-related research and
practice to address health inequities; 3. Enhance training in evidence-based psychological capital
interventions; and 4. Increase proficiency in dissemination and implementation science and integration of care.
Research: Perinatal mood disorders are prevalent.
Individuals who are able to acquire and maintain personal
and social resources are better situated to cope with the demands associated with the transition to
motherhood
. Psychological Capital Interventions (PCIs) are evidence-based approaches that promote mental
health and well-being. Adaptation of a multi-level PCI that seeks to foster combinations of resources across the
perinatal period may serve as an important yet underexplored strategy to optimize perinatal well-being among
low-resourced communities. Aim 1 will investigate point-estimates and trajectories of psychological capital
across the perinatal period in 300 individuals experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage. Aim 2 will identify
cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between psychological capital trajectories, social resources and
mental health outcomes. Aim 3 will consist of interviews, data integration, and an iterative adaptation process,
resulting in a multi-level PCI for perinatal populations experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage.
Summary: The innovation of MORE is threefold: 1) identification of a constellation of multi-level protective
factors that support perinatal mental health, 2) application of a life course perspective and longitudinal modeling
to investigate resources across critical, malleable periods, and 3) adaptation of PCIs that may reduce stigma by
offering support without pathologizing, thus increasing access to mental health supports. Although the root social
and economic factors must be addressed to eliminate health inequities, psychosocial interventions that bolster
resources to better cope with stress may be cost-efficient a...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10880427
- **Project number:** 5K01MD016928-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER
- **Principal Investigator:** Charlotte Victoria Farewell
- **Activity code:** K01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $126,746
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-09-23 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10880427

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10880427, Mothers Optimizing Resources Everyday (MORE): Buffering mental health inequities in low-resourced perinatal populations (5K01MD016928-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10880427. Licensed CC0.

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