184462 Encouraging Women By Means of Referrals, Access, Coordination and Education: An Interconception Intervention to Improve Birth Outcomes

Monday, October 27, 2008: 9:10 AM

Amy Raines, MPH , Outreach Division, Public Health Department, Fort Worth, TX
Latawnya Peachy, MPH(c) , Outreach Division, Fort Worth Public Health Department, Fort Worth, TX
Kelly LaMendola, RN , Outreach Division, Fort Worth Public Health Department, Fort Worth, TX
Dorian Villegas, MPH , Public Health Department/Epidemiology, City of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX
Local and national research, including local Perinatal Periods of Risk (PPOR) results, suggest that to improve birth outcomes, interventions should be focused on improving the health of women before and between pregnancies. In response, the Fort Worth Public Health Department created the Women's Health Initiative whose mission is to “share with women the knowledge, skills, support and resources needed to improve and/or maintain health; to foster a physical environment which ensures that those opportunities exist.” One of the first activities of this initiative was to create a population-based intervention entitled “Encouraging Women By Means of Referrals, Access, Coordination and Education (EMBRACE). The intervention focuses on recruiting women who have either experienced a previous adverse birth outcome, or women at risk for an adverse birth outcome, but not currently pregnant, into a voluntary brief home-visitation intervention. Findings from a community-based Women's Health Assessment of over 400 women living in the areas most impacted by infant mortality and known preconception/interconception health risks informed the development of objectives for the intervention. The primary objectives include: assess preconception/interconception health risks, establish a medical home, screen and refer women for depression, facilitate the creation of a reproductive health plan and to identify and refer and/or resolve other health risks tailored to the needs and desires of the participants. A discussion of the development and implementation of the intervention, current outcomes and lessons learned will be of interest to health care professionals charged with addressing infant morality and improving birth outcomes.

Learning Objectives:
Describe the design and implementation of an interconception intervention to improve birth outcomes. Identify the barriers and challenges when creating the intervention. Evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention and areas of improvement.

Keywords: Pregnancy Outcomes, Women's Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the coordinator of a Women's Health Initiative at the Fort Worth Public Health Department. I conducted the formative research, women's health assessment, and have designed and implemented the intervention. I have over 10 years in public health program planning in the area of maternal and child health. I have a masters in public health and have started to work on my DrPH dissertation.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.