WellBabies: mothers' perspectives on an innovative model of group well-child care.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Typical well-child visits are often unsatisfactory both to providers and patients. Group visits have been shown effective in some settings but have not been recently assessed for well-child care. Here we describe a model for infant well-child visits, WellBabies, along with participating mothers' perspectives and comparisons of quality outcomes. METHODS We invited mothers receiving prenatal care in our practice to participate in WellBabies after delivery. Thirteen women participated, and 11 were available for individual interviews. We identified and summarized common themes in interview transcripts and compared quality outcomes with babies who had standard individual well-child visits. RESULTS Participants expressed largely positive reactions to WellBabies, identifying mutual support, information sharing, parental involvement in care, and time spent in the visit as particularly valuable. One participant expressed concern about lack of individual time with a provider. Quality outcomes were similar to those in the comparison group. CONCLUSIONS Group well-child visits can effectively address important issues in children's health care and are well-received by participants.