PRENATAL CARE

 

PRENATAL CARE

Although prenatal care varies enormously, it usually involves a defined schedule of visits for medical care, which typically includes screening for manageable conditions and treatable diseases that can affect the baby or the mother (Lu & Lu, 2008). In addition to medical care, prenatal programs often include comprehensive educational, social, and nutritional services.

Does prenatal care matter? Information about pregnancy, labor, delivery, and caring for the newborn can be especially valuable for first-time mothers (Lowdermilk, Perry, & Cashion, 2011; Murray & McKinney, 2010). Prenatal care is also very important for women in poverty because it links them with other social services (Mattson & Smith, 2011; Perry & others, 2010).

An innovative program that is rapidly expanding in the United States is CenteringPregnancy (Steming, 2008). This program is relationship-centered and provides complete prenatal care in a group setting. CenteringPregnancy replaces traditional 15-minute physician visits with 90-minute peer group support settings and self-examination led by a physician or certified nurse-midwife. Groups of up to 10 women (and often their partners) meet regularly beginning at 12 to 16 weeks of pregnancy. The sessions emphasize empowering women to play an active role in experiencing a positive pregnancy. A recent study revealed that CenteringPregnancy groups made more prenatal visits, had higher breast feeding rates, and were more satisfied with their prenatal care than women in individual care (Klima & others, 2009).

Some prenatal programs for parents focus on home visitation (Eckenrode & others, 2010; Lee & others, 2009). Research evaluations indicate that the Nurse Family Partnership created by David Olds and his colleagues (2004, 2007) is successful. The Nurse Family Partnership involves home visits by trained nurses beginning in the second or third trimester of prenatal development. The extensive program consists of approximately 50 home visits from the prenatal period through two years of age. The home visits focus on the mother’s health, access to health care, parenting, and improvement of the mother’s life by providing her guidance in education, work, and relationships. Research revealed that the Nurse Family Partnership has numerous positive outcomes including fewer pregnancies, better work circumstances, and stability in relationship partners for the mother, and improved academic success and social development for the child (Olds & others, 2004, 2007). In another home visitation program, high-risk pregnant women and adolescents, many living in poverty conditions, were provided bi-weekly home visitation services that encouraged healthy prenatal behavior, social support, and links to medical and other community services (Lee & others, 2009). Compared to a control group of pregnant women and adolescents who did not receive the home visits, the home visitation group gave birth to fewer low birth weight infants.