Development and implementation of a women's health promotion program: the Moms for Moms approach

The Moms for Moms (M4M) program provides mothers the arena necessary to explore new ideas and definitions about mothering as well as skills and strategies concerning parenting, family management, and healthy habits. A participatory approach has been used to understand the development and implementation of the program from the perspective of the participants and community agency staff in an urban city. This approach provides detailed descriptions and interpretations of the shared beliefs, behaviors, and values of the participants as well as how these attributes are shaped by involvement in M4M. The findings from a needs assessment and program feasibility study conducted from August 2006 to June 2008 are used to inform a recently launched Healthy Lifestyles Initiative at a community-based agency for women, to determine if M4M fits within the culture of the organization and to determine the relevance of participatory methods to engage mothers and community agencies in creating health promotion programming.