Perinatal mental health disorders (PMHDs) include perinatal depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder, or postpartum psychosis. U.S. rural communities often lack access to perinatal and mental health care; taken together, this health issue of PMHDs in the rural United States is complex. As polydisciplinary scholars of rhetoric of health & medicine (RHM), health communication, and public health, we explore: how do rural U.S. communities navigate the public health crisis of PMHDs? To answer that question, we contextualize PMHDs within mental health rhetoric research (MHRR). We review literature about narrative and social support as tools for communicating about PMHDs in rural U.S. communities. We suggest future research directions for better understanding communication about PMHDs in the rural U.S.

This dialogue is focused on community-based participatory research (CBPR) part¬nerships that can shape public health research in RHM and health communica¬tion. The dialogue is based on a roundtable discussion that was held at the 2019 meeting of the Central States Communication Association in Omaha, Nebraska. Based on our experiences conducting CBPR across different areas of communica¬tion and public health, we oriented our dialogue around four key themes that seemed central to understanding CBPR in rhetoric of health and medicine (RHM): 1) defining community and CBPR; 2) discussing research methods and engaging community stakeholders; 3) considering ethics, and; 4) assessing out¬comes of CBPR. Based on this dialogue, we conclude with implications and applications, as well as further references for interested RHM and health com¬munication scholars.

Expectant parents use health communication messaging to make decisions about their childbirth plans. Recently, women have increasingly chosen to use doulas, or people who provide non-medical support during childbirth. This essay analyzes how a hospital designed public communication through promotional efforts regarding their no-cost, volunteer doula program. We use rhetorical analysis to analyze 19 promotional texts. By analyzing these materials through the rhetorical method of presence and absence, we found that the health discourse related to the doula program gave presence to expectant mothers. Additionally, the benefits of doulas, especially in relation to fathers or partners, remained absent in promoting the volunteer doula program. Through specific communication design recommendations, we focus on how to improve this communication to increase the use of doulas in our community, and in other communities. We conclude with implications and limitations of the study.