Opportunities for health promotion: Discussing health topics during prenatal care visits, 2011 Mississippi Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS)

Background: Although prenatal care visits are an opportunity for a health care provider to discuss a variety of health topics, little is known about healthcare discussion during prenatal care visits in Mississippi.

Research Question: Will healthcare discussion during prenatal care visit affect maternal behavior engagement during or after pregnancy?   

Methods: The 2011 Mississippi PRAMS data (n=1,186) were analyzed. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square tests and logistic regressions were done using SAS 9.3 Proc Survey procedure (SAS Institute, Cary, NC, USA).

Results: Among all mothers with a recent delivery, 42.6% took multivitamin, 74.3% had HIV test, 65.5% had birth defect test during pregnancy; 90.0% used birth control after delivery and 51.1% breastfed their infant. Among those mothers, 50.6% had discussion on taking multivitamin, 75.4% on HIV test, 89% on birth defect test, 65.7% on using birth control and 90.0% on breast feeding with their health care provider. After controlling for socio-demographic characteristics, mothers reporting of prenatal care discussion of multivitamin intake, HIV test, birth defect screening and postpartum birth control were more likely to take multivitamin (OR=2.8,  98% CI=1.8-4.4), receive HIV test (OR=20.8, 95% CI=9.9-43.8) and birth defect screening (OR=4.3, 95% CI=1.9-9.3) during pregnancy and use birth control after delivery (OR=1.6, 95% CI=1.1-2.5) compared to those not reporting the discussion of these issues. However, there was no significant relationship between discussing breastfeeding with healthcare providers and breastfeeding experience (p=0.48).

Conclusion: Healthcare discussion is significantly associated with maternal behaviors indicating a strong need for increased efforts in health communication during prenatal care visits.