ABSTRACT
The objective for this study was to determine whether a brief preconceptional health
promotion program for low-income women attending family planning clinics impacts on
intendedness of pregnancy. In this prospective study, we examined data on 1378 women
presenting for prenatal care at three local health departments. Each of the departments
offers a standardized preconceptional health promotion program in its family planning
clinics. Comparisons were undertaken for 456 women who had been exposed to the family
planning preconception program, 309 women who had attended the family planning clinics
but had not been exposed to the program, and 613 women who were unknown to the health
department before beginning prenatal care. Women exposed to information on preconceptional
health during routine family planning visits, the experimental group, had a 51.8%
(p = 0.064) greater likelihood of identifying their pregnancies as intended than a
group known to the local health departments' family planning programs but unexposed
to the intervention. Furthermore, the experimental group had a 64.2% (p = 0.0009)
greater likelihood of intendedness than a comparison group not known to the health
departments before the initiation of prenatal care. Our study indicates that an introductory
program of preconceptional health promotion which is targeted to women not planning
a pregnancy in the immediate future is associated with a higher rate of intendedness
in subsequent pregnancies. Expansion of similar preconceptional programs in family
planning clinics may prove a useful approach for promoting intendedness of pregnancy
in low-income women.
Keywords
Intendedness of pregnancy - preconceptional health promotion - family planning programs
