Development of prenatal event history calendar for Black women.

OBJECTIVES To identify psychosocial factors that Black women think should be addressed in prenatal care assessment and develop a Prenatal Event History Calendar to assess these factors. DESIGN A qualitative descriptive study. SETTING Two inner city hospital prenatal care clinics in Southeastern Michigan. PARTICIPANTS Twenty-two Black women who had attended at least 2 prenatal care visits. METHOD Three focus groups were conducted using a semistructured interview guide. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Using the constant comparative method of analysis (Glaser, 1978, 1992) themes were identified that were relevant to Black women during prenatal care visits. RESULTS The women in this study wanted to talk with their providers about psychosocial factors and not just the physical aspects of pregnancy. To "go off the pregnancy" represents pregnant women's desire to discuss psychosocial factors that were important to them during prenatal care. Five themes emerged from the data and were used to develop categories for the Prenatal Event History Calendar: relationships, stress, routines, health history perceptions, and beliefs. CONCLUSION One vital component of prenatal care assessment is assessing for psychosocial risk factors. Prenatal Event History Calendar was specifically developed to provide a comprehensive and contextually linked psychosocial risk assessment for use with pregnant Black women.