Comparison of Prenatal Care With Group Guidance to Routine Care for Pregnant Women at Low Risk in Maternal and Child Health Clinics
Comparison of Prenatal Care With Group Guidance to Routine Care for Pregnant Women at Low Risk in Maternal and Child Health Clinics
Prenatal care is defined as pregnancy-related health care services provided to a women between conception and delivery. Early, comprehensive prenatal care can promote healthier pregnancies and can reduce the risk of some adverse birth outcomes by detecting and managing preexisting medical conditions, by providing health behavior advice, and by offering a gateway into the health care system for socially disadvantaged women . The customary approach for prenatal care includes routine individual care, which is provided by nurses and physicians in healthcare clinics and hospitals. Since 1995, citizens of Israel, have been entitled to health care services according to the National Health Insurance Law . Israeli citizens are covered by National Health Insurance, and get maternal and child preventive services including prenatal care by local Mother and Child Health Clinics . The prenatal care is individual. A nurse meets with every registered pregnant women, assess the medical and emotional condition and provide guidance related to the pregnancy week of the woman.
Since the 70, a number of group prenatal care intervention programs are described in the literature. Group prenatal care is designed to answer the recommended content for prenatal care for improving the quality of care and resulting in improved pregnancy outcome . The group prenatal care includes three important components: risk assessment. Guidance and support and combines them into the prenatal care22. Creation of the group provides a meeting place for pregnant women. A safe place for sharing and learning from each other and to build a community for mutual support .
The investigators hypothesize that, relative to women who receive standard individual prenatal care, the women who receive group prenatal care will be more likely to:
Prenatal care is defined as pregnancy-related health care services provided to a women between conception and delivery. Early, comprehensive prenatal care can promote healthier pregnancies and can reduce the risk of some adverse birth outcomes by detecting and managing preexisting medical conditions, by providing health behavior advice, and by offering a gateway into the health care system for socially disadvantaged women .
Since 1995, citizens of Israel, have been entitled to health care services according to the National Health Insurance Law . Israeli citizens are covered by National Health Insurance, and get maternal and child preventive services including prenatal care by local Mother and Child Health Clinics . The prenatal care is individual. A nurse meets with every registered pregnant women, assess the medical and emotional condition and provide guidance related to the pregnancy week of the woman. Since the 70', a number of group prenatal care intervention programs are described in the literature. Group prenatal care is designed to answer the recommended content for prenatal care for improving the quality of care and resulting in improved pregnancy outcome . The group prenatal care includes three important components: risk assessment. Guidance and support and combines them into the prenatal care22. Creation of the group provides a meeting place for pregnant women. A safe place for sharing and learning from each other and to build a community for mutual support . In our study, we would like to evaluate feasibility and effectiveness of group Prenatal Care for low risk pregnancies. We hypothesize that, relative to women who receive standard individual prenatal care, the women who receive group prenatal care will be more likely to:
In the intervention group: groups of 8-12 women who are in similar week of pregnancy / due date. The first group session will begin at 12-14 week (depends on gestational age at first OBGYN visit). The group meetings will be held once a month until 28 weeks of pregnancy. From 28 weeks and until the end of pregnancy or 40 weeks, it will be held once every two weeks (according to the Ministry of Health guidelines). The last session will be held approximately 6 weeks after birth. There will be about 10 group sessions. Each session will be around 90 minutes. At the beginning of every group meeting, the nurse will preform a short anamnesis and measures in private, followed by discussion and guidance. At the end of the session, if needed, women can have private time with the nurse.
Inclusion Criteria:
Exclusion Criteria: