Intention to Participate in Group Prenatal Care: Moving Beyond Yes or No

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Maternal Health
• Healthcare Delivery Models

Background:

• Group prenatal care (GPNC) presents an alternative to standard individual prenatal visits.
• Existing research indicates variable interest in GPNC, with limited data on predictive characteristics for participation.
• Effective recruitment strategies are crucial for expanding GPNC adoption and improving maternal health outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify characteristics associated with participation likelihood in group prenatal care.
• To understand perceptions of benefits, barriers, and threats influencing GPNC enrollment.
• To inform targeted recruitment strategies for group prenatal care programs.

Main Methods:

• Pregnant participants received information on GPNC and completed a survey.
• The survey assessed demographic, psychosocial, and reproductive characteristics.
• Likelihood to participate and influencing factors (benefits, barriers, threats) were measured.

Main Results:

• Respondents showed varied participation likelihood: 16.2% low, 44.9% moderate, 38.9% high.
• Predictive demographic or psychosocial characteristics were not significantly different across likelihood groups.
• Perceived benefits outweighed barriers/threats for high likelihood, vice versa for low likelihood, and balanced for moderate.

Conclusions:

• Participant characteristics are not reliable for targeted GPNC recruitment; focus on participation likelihood.
• Assessing likelihood efficiently identifies those likely to join or decline, enabling focused efforts on ambivalent individuals.
• Addressing perceived benefits, barriers, and threats is key to successful group prenatal care recruitment.