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

Abstract #115367

Kathy Yarmo, MPH, Northern California Chapter, March of Dimes, 1530 East Shaw Ave., Suite 110, Fresno, CA 93710 and Christina R. Malin, MPH, MSW, March of Dimes, 1050 Sansome St., 4th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94111, (415) 217-6373, KMalin@marchofdimes.com.

Recent studies indicate that culturally competent practice leads to increased patient satisfaction and, subsequently, increased patient retention and access to care. This principle can also be applied to health education efforts, especially those that aim to reach cultural and linguistic minorities in the community. Comenzando bien™ is a prenatal health education curriculum and support group model developed by the March of Dimes to reach Latina women of childbearing age. While the curriculum was designed for the Latino population, one of its cornerstones is the recognition and validation of key cultural values that mediate health behaviors, making it universally relevant to diverse cultural minority groups. The California Chapter of the March of Dimes has trained over 60 instructors from 27 agencies in the Central California Valley, many of which serve minority groups such as the African-American community and the Hmong, Lao, Mixteco and Russian immigrant populations. The chapter collaborates with these agencies to develop instructor trainings and many of the agencies send delegates to the local March of Dimes program advisory committee, with the result that the curriculum has been successfully adapted to suit the needs of these populations. Overall, the program boasts an 81% completion rate with significant behavior change among graduates, including 92% reporting regular prenatal visits (a 12% increase from the beginning of the program) 91% reporting daily prenatal vitamin use (a 24% increase) and 63% reporting exclusive breastfeeding six weeks postpartum (compared to the Fresno County 2001 rate of 34% among women leaving the hospital after delivery).

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