Consequences of Military Sexual Trauma for Perinatal Mental Health: How Do We Improve Care for Pregnant Veterans with a History of Sexual Trauma?

"Nevertheless, there are ways in which VA may be able to augment the maternity care pregnant veterans receive to empower and facilitate more trauma-informed approaches to obstetric care. These include investing in programs to ensure peer support, possibly through use of mobile health technology; facilitating collaboration with maternity care providers through provision of handheld/electronic maternity records (‘‘pregnancy passports’’); support for trauma- informed birth planning; and provision of doula support to empower veterans and build awareness of their unique cultural and gender issues."