A public health nursing initiative to promote antenatal health

At least one in 10 pregnant women experiences depression. Other health risks during pregnancy include family violence, substance abuse, inadequate nutrition, financial challenges, environmental hazards and lack of social support. Public health nurses are in a unique position to enhance perinatal health by assessing for antenatal psychosocial risk factors. During 2005-06 in a suburban/rural community near Edmonton, Alberta, public health nurses initiated a one-year demonstration project with the goal of increasing the number of health and community services accessed by pregnant women as a result of an interactive appointment with a public health nurse. Eight family physicians in WestView Primary Care Network and three midwives from WestView's Shared Care Maternity Program referred local pregnant clients to the public health nursing unit at WestView Health Centre in Stony Plain. Each woman was assessed by a public health nurse for a variety of psychosocial risk factors. Results of the assessment determined the type of additional health services to which the pregnant women were referred. Care providers were unanimous in their support for public health nurses' continuing to provide antenatal assessments to an expanded population of suburban/rural communities in the Capital Health region.