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Nancy Khosa, MD, School of Public Health, Drexel University, 1505 Race Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102, 215-762-2552, nk58@drexel.edu, Linda E. Lloyd, PhD, School of Public Health, MCP Hahnemann University, 245 North 15th Street, Mail Stop 660, Philadelphia, PA 19102-1192, Marjorie Angert, DO, MPH, Division of Maternal, Child and Family Health, Philadelphia Department of Public Health, 1101 Market East, 9th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19107, and Brian Castrucci, PhD, Department of Public Health, Division of Maternal, Child and Family Health, City of Philadelphia, 1101Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107.
Background: Infant mortality is a marker of the quality of the health care system as a whole and of the effectiveness of primary care in particular. While early enrollment in prenatal care remains an important mechanism for lowering infant mortality, many experts in perinatal health recognize that a healthy pregnancy begins before conception. Therefore, using pre-conceptional education to target women before they become pregnant represents an underutilized opportunity to decrease infant morbidity and mortality.
Purpose: This study assesses the efficacy of a pre-conceptional education intervention on changing the health knowledge of reproductive aged women enrolled in an urban community health center in Philadelphia.
Methods: The study is a randomized, prospective cohort study evaluating the change in health-related knowledge regarding identified pre-conceptional risks after an educational intervention. Women 18-50 who were not pregnant and who were clients at the health center, are assessed with a standardized self-administered questionnaire. Subjects are then randomly assigned to one of three groups: 1) To receive written educational material about pre-conceptional risk factors 2) To receive educational video instruction or 3) To receive no specific educational intervention. The subjects will then be reassessed after an interval of 2 months using the same self administered questionnaire to assess change in pre-conceptional knowledge.
Results: The primary endpoint will be change in the subject’s scores on the questionnaire pre and post intervention compared to those in the control group with no intervention. Study results, to be completed by May 2004, will be discussed at the APHA meeting.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Pregnancy Outcomes, Primary Prevention
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.