introduction: quality of life is individuals’ perception of their status in life in the context of the culture and value systems they live in. pregnancy has a great impact on mothers and their quality of life. prenatal classes provide mothers with information about pregnancy, labor process and newborn care. objective:the present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of prenatal classes on ...

BACKGROUND The intent of this investigation was to study the distribution of obstetric providers and prenatal care utilization in Wisconsin and analyze the potential impact of these factors on the frequency of low birth weight. METHODS State perinatal vital statistics and physician professional association surveys were used to compare the frequency of low birth weight, physician distribution,...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate physical intimate partner violence during gestation as an independent risk factor for low quality of prenatal care. METHODS A cross-sectional study was carried out at three public maternity wards of the municipality of Rio de Janeiro (Southeastern Brazil). The 528 puerperal women included in the study were selected by simple random sampling from all babies born at term i...

BACKGROUND Prenatal care coverage is still not universal or adequately provided in many low and middle income countries. One of the main barriers regards the presence of socioeconomic inequalities in prenatal care utilization. In Brazil, prenatal care is supplied for the entire population at the community level as part of the Family Health Strategy (FHS), which is the main source of primary car...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to determine the characteristics of women in Canada who received care from a midwife during their prenatal period. METHODS The findings of this study were drawn from the Maternity Experiences Survey (MES), which was a cross-sectional survey that assessed the experiences of women who gave birth between November 2005 and May 2006. The main outcome variable f...

There are a variety of published prenatal care (PNC) guidelines that claim a scientific basis for the information included. Four sets of PNC guidelines published between 2005 and 2009 were examined and critiqued. The recommendations for assessment procedures, laboratory testing, and education/counseling topics were analyzed within and between these guidelines. The PNC components were synthesize...

A prenatal care case-management program in Tennessee was evaluated to determine its effectiveness in improving the adequacy of prenatal care reducing the odds of preterm birth (gestation less than 37 weeks) and very low birth weight births (less than 1,500 g). The case-management program, Project HUG, included care provider referrals, visit scheduling, assistance with transportation and nutriti...

The authors evaluated the relation between adequacy of prenatal care and risk of delivery of full term small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infants. Data were derived from maternally linked birth certificates for 6,325 African-American women whose first two pregnancies ended in singleton, full term live births in Georgia from 1989 through 1992. The authors used stratified analysis to assess the effe...

background and purpose: women with low (high) pre-pregnancy body mass index (bmi) recently delivered infants with approximately normal or close to normal birth weights under the high quality of prenatal care. this study estimated the effect of pre-pregnancy bmi when concerns about the effects of different quality levels of prenatal care and the health status of mothers and their infants existed...