Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #104762

Ellen Hutchins, ScD, Maternal and Child Bureau, Division of Healthy Start and Perinatal Services, Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Parklawn Bldg Rm 18-12, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857, 301.443.9534, ehutchins@hrsa.gov, Cindy Engler, RN, MPH, Boston Public Health Commission, Department of Maternal and Child Health, 1010 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA 02118, and Barbara R. Gottlieb, MD, MPH, Harvard Medical School, Brookside Community Health Center, 3297 Washington Street, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130.

The health of many women in Boston is at significant risk from factors such as alcohol, depression and domestic violence. Too often, particularly for women of color, the health care system fails to adequately screen for these risks or provide effective follow-up services when risks have been identified. Failing to screen for and address behavioral risks can have serious consequences for the health of women, their families and the larger community. To address this problem, a comprehensive system of behavioral risk screening, assessment and referral is needed to assure women at risk are identified in the preconceptional period, and offered appropriate care. The Preconceptional Screening and Assessment Project, funded by the HRSA Maternal and Child Health Bureau, is a collaboration between the Boston Public Health Commission, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, two Boston community health centers, and representatives of academic institutions to develop and demonstrate a culturally competent system of multiple risk screening for women of reproductive age with a primary focus on women in the preconception phase. In this session we will present: the process for the development of a brief, culturally competent behavioral risk screening tool to be used by primary care providers with women of preconceptional age; barriers in community health centers to provider screening for behavioral risk factors; and baseline rates of behavioral risk screening compared to screening rates one year after implementation of the tool.

Learning Objectives:

• 1)Be able to identify the importance of developing a multiple behavioral risk screen for alcohol, depression, and domestic violence.
• 2)Be able to identify the steps necessary to ensure that a multiple behavioral risk screen is relevant to the population served and to the providers administering it.

Keywords: Risk Assessment, Maternal and Child Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation