Early versus late prenatal care in New Mexico: barriers and motivators

Adequate prenatal care is important for ensuring a good outcome for pregnant women and their children, and its initiation in the first trimester is a major component. We investigated barriers and motivators for women receiving early versus late prenatal care.

A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 205 women who began prenatal care at the University of New Mexico Hospital Obstetrics Clinic in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The questionnaire assessed demographic information, insurance status, feelings about the pregnancy, health behaviors, and barriers and motivators to initiating prenatal care. The participants were Hispanic (41%) and non-Hispanic white (46%), low-income women with Medicaid (42%) or no health insurance (41%). They were divided into early (1st trimester 67%) and late (after 1st trimester 33%) care groups.

Ethnicity, education, income, and age did not predict initiation of prenatal care. Late initiators cited financial problems (26%), not being aware of the pregnancy (15%), and dislike of going to doctors (14%) as reasons for the delay in seeking prenatal care. Over two-thirds of the pregnancies were unplanned, but 82 percent of the women felt positive about the pregnancy.

Our study documents the continuing need for public health efforts to encourage women to seek early prenatal care. Specific attention should be directed toward women's perceived reasons for not initiating early care.