| Description |
This research project focused on the quality of prenatal care for low-income women in Salt Lake City, Utah. A standardized instrument, The Quality of Prenatal Care Questionnaire was used to guide this study. It focused on Information Sharing, Anticipatory Guidance, Sufficient Time, Approachability, Availability, and Support and Respect. During the months of November and December of 2018, the primary investigator administered the Quality of Prenatal Care Questionnaire to low-income pregnant women in a primary care clinic in Salt Lake City, Utah. A consent form was given for the participants to sign, which then was followed by a short demographic questionnaire, and then followed by the Quality of Prenatal Care Questionnaire. This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of Utah. Results showed that women reported adverse experiences when it comes to Anticipatory Guidance, which narrowed down on patients being well informed to make their own decisions regarding their prenatal care and providers providing them with enough options for their birth experience, and Sufficient Time, which covered the time providers spend with patients and answering their questions. Women reported that their provider did not did not spend much time talking about expectations for labor and delivery, did not link them to programs in the community that were helpful to her, their provider felt rushed, they did not always have time to answer their questions, they did not make time for them to talk, and they did not make time to listen either. Practice implications to these results indicate that providers need to establish better time management with their patients, as well as establish more in-depth communication with their patients. Other implications are continuing research surrounding the quality of prenatal care with a larger and more diverse sample to obtain experiences from women who see different providers. To increase quality of prenatal care for women, providers need to increase the education and knowledge they give their patients and spend more time addressing their concerns and answering their questions. |
