Prenatal Care Utilization in an African-American Population Is Influenced by the Health Beliefs Model

Abstract 712 Poster Session IV, Tuesday, 5/4 (poster 9)

Inadequate prenatal care (IPNC) is associated with significant morbidity in African-American populations. Utilization of care may be influenced by access, as well as health beliefs of pregnant women. In this study, we compare the health beliefs of 140 African American mothers with adequate PNC (APNC) to those beliefs of 285 mothers with IPNC (defined as < 5 visits and/or care initiated after 24 weeks). Mothers with APNC had a higher level of education, 78% had a high school diploma and 30% had some college education, compared to 55% and 11% in mothers with IPNC (p = 0.02). Of mothers with APNC, 48% lived below poverty level compared to 79% with IPNC (p < 0.0001). Comparison of scores on the Health Beliefs questionnaire is represented in the table below:

Table 1 No caption available

Log in or create a free account to read this content

Gain free access to this article, as well as selected content from this journal and more on nature.com

Access through your institution

or

Sign in or create an account

Continue with Google

Continue with ORCiD