Client characteristics associated with not keeping appointments for public health nursing home visits

Home visits have been identified as an intervention strategy for high-risk pregnant women. A necessary component of this intervention strategy is for the women to be home for the visit with the nurse. The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with women not keeping their home visit appointments with a public health nurse. Subjects were 232 low-income high-risk pregnant women who received at least one home visit by a public health nurse. Younger age, more stressful life events, receipt of medical assistance, inadequacy of prenatal care, noncompliance with health recommendations, and longer gestational time were associated with not keeping public health nursing appointments. While this study provides some insight into the factors associated with women not keeping their appointments with the public health nurse, further investigation is warranted to identify strategies to reduce the incidence of not-kept appointments.