Anecdotal reports suggest that Federal policy changes regarding immigration reform have had an impact on the use of prenatal care by foreign-born women. To test these hypotheses we evaluated service utilization patterns among prenatal care patients at MIC/Women's Health Services, which provides comprehensive maternity care throughout NYC for poor at-risk women. The dependent variables were: (1) the percent foreign-born women seeking prenatal care before and after the implementation of the Federal policy changes (August 1997); (2) the stage of gestation at intake for women seeking prenatal care pre and post the policy change period. Analyses included 18,882 clients with initial prenatal visits January 1, 1996 - December 31, 1997. Chi-square and t-tests were used to evaluate differences by time period in country of birth, parity, and immigration status. Logistic regression was used to control for race, education, age. Results indicated that after implementation of the legislation significantly fewer foreign-born women sought services (64.2%, pre vs.62.2%,actual), and that among the foreign-born significantly fewer undocumented women sought prenatal care (24.9% pre vs. 21.7% actual). The results regarding stage of gestation at intake were more complicated: a small but significant trend existed for undocumented foreign-born women to present earlier for prenatal services than native-born or foreign-born documented women in the actual implementation period compared to the preceding period, perhaps due to a selection factor.
Learning Objectives: 1. Participants will understand the effects of recent policy changes on community level programs 2. Participants will understand how carefully data must be interpreted to avoid misinformation based on selection factors or other methodological artifacts
Keywords: Access Immigration, Women's Health
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: MIC/Women's Health Services
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.