Guidewell and Canopie Publish Case Study on Partnership to Reduce Maternal Mental Health Disparities

Link to download the full case study here.

A recent case study by Canopie and GuideWell, "Centering maternal mental health, Florida Blue creates a safety net for mothers-to-be with Canopie," shows a reduction in maternal mental health disparities among expectant and new moms through the combined use of Canopie's digital mental health solution and GuideWell's care management outreach.

This pioneering case study comes out of a partnership between Canopie, a digital, preventative maternal mental health solution, and GuideWell, a not-for-profit mutual holding company, to reduce gaps in mental health access among expectant and new mothers.

GuideWell members were invited to participate via email outreach conducted by Aeroflow Health (a contracted DME vendor for breast pumps) and onboarded through the Canopie app—a digital platform that connects expecting and new mothers to care, addresses symptoms of Maternal Mental Health Conditions, and provides classes, educational resources, and personalized, audio-based therapeutic programs.

“Canopie’s self-guided digital therapeutic sessions including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), interpersonal therapy (IPT), and compassion-focused therapy (CFT) in audio/video format 3-5 minutes long each.”

With a goal of enrolling 380, 400 expectant mothers were enrolled in/downloaded the Canopie app and 358 were engaged users (an unprecedented 89% conversion). Canopie and GuideWell “collaborated on a population-level approach that did not require a prior diagnosis, financial resources, time, or admission of mental health challenges to receive care and support,” an especially novel feat given about half of mental illness cases in developed countries go untreated according to Princeton/Clubhouse International.

The partnership addresses a critical need: every year, 30,000 GuideWell members give birth, and 12-18% of them are at risk of developing postpartum depression or related symptoms, with Black women being the most vulnerable. To tackle this issue, GuideWell and Canopie aimed to:

• Expand access to maternal mental health support for pre and postpartum members across all levels of risk
• Improve identification of social determinants of health, REL (race, ethnicity, and language) demographics, and pregnancy health risks in expectant mothers
• Increase well-being and care-seeking behaviors in expectant mothers
• Provide personalized prenatal education to bridge knowledge gaps about critical pregnancy complications

Even as a preventative solution, increased engagement with the Canopie app still correlated with better mental health outcomes, with 79% of all surveyed members reporting increased mental health care-seeking behaviors and 50% of members who listened to over 30 sessions reporting that the program significantly helped their mental health.

Canopie onboarding captured 30+ data points on mental, physical, and social health risk factors ranging from difficulty paying bills to pre-existing conditions. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) was used to assess mood and anxiety levels. From this data, high-risk members were flagged, and GuideWell’s care management team provided additional support to them.

The study highlighted significant disparities in social determinants of health (SDOH) risks among Black mothers compared to their counterparts:

• Black moms were 60% more likely to desire more social support
• Black moms were 62% more likely to worry about getting food on the table 
• Black moms reported 9% more pregnancies than average, but 23% less perinatal screenings

“Everyone should be paying closer attention to the concerns expressed by pregnant women, especially those of color.” -Dr. Kelli Tice, Chief Health Equity Officer at Florida Blue.

Despite higher social and physical risks, Black moms reported lower average EPDS scores, suggesting a potential underreporting of depression symptoms and questions of cultural competency with current screeners. Black moms were also more engaged with the Canopie program, with Black moms being 30% more likely to open educational emails about physical and mental health during pregnancy and 80% more likely to complete 10+ therapeutic Canopie app sessions.

The partnership between Canopie and GuideWell represents a step forward in addressing maternal equity by prioritizing preventative maternal mental health. Following the partnership's success, an expansion of the program will be launched, enrolling 1,000 moms-to-be to study the partnership’s long-term impacts on reducing medical costs and maternal/child hospitalization rates.

For more information, please contact: Hannah Young, hyoung@canopie.health