Familias Sanas (Healthy Families): A culturally grounded approach to improve the interconception care of Latina mothers

Latina mothers in the Southwest have a significantly low utilization of interconception care. This intervention project aims at increasing Latino mothers' access to interconception care as a means of enhancing the overall well-being of the mothers and their children using an innovative hybrid promotoras model. The study follows an ecological approach to explore both the risk factors and the protective factors that may influence the experiences of the participating women. The proposed theoretical approach allows for the evaluation of the intervention within the socio-cultural context of its target population while identifying strengths that provide the means to overcome barriers to effective care. A randomized control-group design was utilized. Pre-tests were administered to all participants upon recruitment. The intervention group participants received on going one-on-one psychosocial, educational services from a bicultural and bilingual health partner throughout her prenatal care. The leading hypothesis of the study is that patients in the experimental group will have a significantly higher rate of participation in post-partum visits than mothers in the control group. The prevalence of return for a post-partum visit with N=140, is 74.67% in the intervention group compared to 44.78% in the control group, a success rate of near 30%. The number of contacts with a prenatal partner is also important. About 86% of participants who had more than five contacts attended a post-natal appointment compared to 14% of participants with less than four contacts. Analysis involving acculturation, familism, stress, social support, and health beliefs will also be presented along with policy implications.