Sarah Matney

St. Louis, MO

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Student Research Program
Project Title:	The Effect of Indian Knowledge Practices on Postpartum Maternal Mental Health in Mumbai
Field of Study:	Public Health
Home Institution:	Washington University, St. Louis, MO
Host Institution:	Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, Maharashtra
Grant Start Month:	September 2025
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Sarah Matney graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 2021 with a BA in cognitive neuroscience from the School of Psychological and Brain Sciences. During her undergraduate career, Sarah also began pursuing her birth doula certification and gave a presentation to a sophomore seminar on the importance of doula support for mother–infant attachment and bonding. Over the last three years, Sarah has been running her own business, Sarah Rose Doula & Wellness LLC, which has served over 75 families as a birth, postpartum, and bereavement doula in Seattle and the greater King County area.

Sarah’s Fulbright-Nehru project is researching how the postpartum confinement period in India affects the mental health of the mother. She is studying how birth is viewed and handled in the U.S. and India – in the former, it is viewed as a single event, and the lack of cohesive support is a direct representation of that perspective; in the latter, birth is seen as a process, where time and familial support help the mother cross through and grow into this life change. Sarah hypothesizes that the culture of support given by way of female relatives through the confinement period eases the transition into motherhood. The research is being conducted through both quantitative measures and successive oral histories.