Statement of Jocelyn Frye, President of the National Partnership for Women & Families WASHINGTON, D.C. – April 23, 2024 – Today, the Biden administration published a final rule to support higher pay and better work-family balance for workers by...
Listening to Mothers
Childbirth Connection’s landmark national Listening to Mothers surveys capture the views of those who care most about maternity issues: mothers themselves.
The surveys cover the time from before pregnancy through the postpartum and infant periods, and shed light on women’s attitudes, beliefs, preferences, and knowledge on a broad range of topics, as well as their maternity care experiences and family and employment life. They report on many items that are not otherwise gathered at the national level. Survey results also reveal gaps between women’s actual experiences and experiences they should have in light of their preferences, best maternity care practices, and their legal rights. They thus point to opportunities for improvement and inform policy, practice, education and research.
Five national Listening to Mothers surveys have been conducted in partnership with Harris Interactive – three initial surveys and two follow-up surveys directed to initial participants, The survey reports and associated materials are available for free at the links below. Carrying out a series of surveys allows us to track core items over time and to include new priority items as our maternity and health care systems evolve.
Datasets from these surveys are freely available to interested researchers via the Odum Institute’s Dataverse at the University of North Carolina (search for Listening to Mothers). We encourage researchers to use and adapt items in our questionnaires. However, researchers who are not collaborating with our investigator team may not use our trademark, Listening to Mothers.
Listening to Mothers in California Survey (2018)
The Listening to Mothers in California survey is a statewide population-based survey of women who gave birth in California hospitals in 2016. The survey provides extensive, timely, previously unavailable data about women’s maternity care experiences and views of their care. Learn more and access a digital report, full survey report, issue briefs, fact sheets, the survey questionnaire and other materials here.
Listening to Mothers III: Pregnancy and Birth (2013)
2,400 women across the country responded to the Pregnancy and Birth questionnaire, and Listening to Mothers III: Pregnancy and Birth reports their views and experiences. Several months later, those participants were invited to complete a follow-up questionnaire, and Listening to Mothers III: New Mothers Speak Out reports their responses.
Pregnancy and Birth
New Mothers Speak Out
Additional Resources
- Survey methodology
- Issue briefs (in-depth review on topics of interest to women, consumers, advocates and policymakers)
- Merged data set
Listening to Mothers II: New Mothers Speak Out (2008)
This report combines results from the Listening to Mothers II survey (see below) and Listening to Mothers II Postpartum follow-up survey, which reached most Listening to Mothers II participants six months later. It provides an eye-opening look at experiences of the lives of mothers with young children in the United States.
Listening to Mothers II (2006)
This survey was carried out in January and February 2006 in partnership with Lamaze International. It surveyed women who gave birth in U.S. hospitals in 2005. The report provides an unparalleled understanding of the experience of childbearing in the United States at this time.
Listening to Mothers I (2002)
Listening to Mothers I was the first opportunity for women in the U.S. to describe at the national level their maternity experiences and assessment of those experiences. The results have given health professionals, policymakers and mothers a new level of understanding about many important matters and have been widely used to improve policy, practice, education and research.
Publications Using Listening to Mothers Survey Data
Data from Listening to Mothers surveys has been further analyzed by experts and academics over the years to identify evidence-practice gaps and make international comparisons. Click here for a full list of publications.