A group of students from the West Virginia University School of Nursing recently took their classroom knowledge to the national stage, successfully passing a resolution focused on postpartum health education at the National Student Nurses' Association convention in Houston.
The resolution, created by members of the WVU Student Nurses Association (SNA), aimed to increase nursing education and advocacy surrounding Diastasis Recti Abdominis (DRA), a condition involving the separation of abdominal muscles during and after pregnancy. According to the group’s research, DRA affects six in 10 postpartum women and is often associated with low back pain and other long-term recovery challenges.
The resolution encourages the integration of postpartum functional health education into nursing curricula and promotes greater awareness of DRA assessment, education and referral guidelines among healthcare organizations. It also calls for increased collaboration among nursing organizations to address gaps in postpartum care and to improve patient outcomes for mothers during recovery.
“If science and health care are constantly improving, why are we learning all this new information and doing nothing about it?” asked Adrienne Mattey, SNA Vice President. “We want our postpartum patients to feel like they have people on their side, people advocating and trying to help understand their needs all the time.”
The student-led project was developed throughout the semester by a six-member team made up of students with a variety of nursing interests and career goals. While some members plan to pursue careers in obstetrics, others are entering areas such as emergency medicine, pediatrics and neurology. Despite their different backgrounds, the students united around a topic they believed deserved more attention in healthcare and nursing education.
“We're all very interested in different things,” said Sarah Kokoski, SNA Historian and Communications Board Member. “You know two of us are going into OB, but we even have people going to the ED… to neuro and to peds… and I just think that everyone brought their own fresh perspective. Even if you know they're not going to spend their career focusing on women's health and OB, everyone just brings such fresh perspectives based on our interests.”
The students said much of their inspiration came from lessons learned during their labor and delivery coursework, where they were introduced to the issue and began researching it further outside the classroom. As they learned more, they discovered how common DRA is and how little awareness exists surrounding postpartum rehabilitation and recovery.
“There were just so many things that I was learning about my own body that I wish wouldn’t have taken an undergraduate degree to learn,” Mattey said.
Their work eventually led them to Houston, where they presented the resolution before nursing students, educators and delegates from across the country. The experience brought both excitement and pressure because they were passionate about their resolution passing. The WVU team spent hours preparing and refining their presentation before taking the floor at the national conference.
“We went over it like 14 times in our hotel room, making little adjustments and perfecting it,” Kokoski said.
After the presentation and vote, the resolution officially passed, marking another national achievement for WVU nursing students and bringing attention to an often-overlooked area of women’s healthcare.
“Hearing that our resolution was passed was just kind of a big weight lifted off our shoulders,” Kokoski added.
The students said the experience highlighted the importance of advocacy within nursing and demonstrated how research and education can create change beyond the classroom. They also hope their success encourages younger nursing students to become more involved in leadership opportunities, research and policy work early in their academic careers.
“I found out I was really passionate about advocacy without realizing it,” Mattey said.
Beyond the resolution itself, the students emphasized the broader role nurses play in patient advocacy, education and long-term care. They said nursing extends far beyond hospital walls and includes helping patients understand how to manage their health after discharge, access resources and feel supported throughout recovery.
“You always have to advocate for your patients in the hospital, Mattey said. “But there's also a level of advocacy that we learned about in our community health class, where we're the firsthand witnesses to patients, their conditions, what they need out of us and out of their health care system. So, who else is going to be able to give firsthand experience to policy makers?”
As the students prepare to graduate and begin their nursing careers, they hope the resolution continues to spark conversations about postpartum care and encourages future nursing students to continue advocating at both the local and national levels.
“It taught me how important it is to be a voice for someone who might not have a voice,” Kokoski concluded.
-WVU-
bc/6/17/2026
MEDIA CONTACT:
Wendy Holdren
Director of Communications and Marketing
WVU School of Nursing
304-581-1772; wendy.holdren@hsc.wvu.edu