THE IMPACT OF A PRECONCEPTIONAL HEALTH PROMOTION PROGRAM ON INTENDEDNESS OF PREGNANCY

The objective for this study was to determine whether a brief preconce ptional health promotion program for low-income women attending family planning clinics impacts on intendedness of pregnancy. In this prospe ctive study, we examined data on 13 78 women presenting for prenatal c are at three local health departments. Each of the departments offers a standardized preconceptional health promotion program in its family planning clinics. Comparisons were undertaken for 456 women who had be en exposed to the family planning preconception program, 309 women who had attended the family planning clinics but had not been exposed to the program, and 613 women who were unknown to the health department b efore beginning prenatal care. Women exposed to information on preconc eptional health during routine family planning visits, the experimenta l group, had a 51.8% (p=0.064) greater likelihood of identifying their pregnancies as intended than a group known to the local health depart ments' family planning programs but unexposed to the intervention. Fur thermore, the experimental group had a 64.2% (p=0.0009) greater likeli hood of intendedness than a comparison group not known to the health d epartments before the initiation of prenatal care. Our study indicates that an introductory program of preconceptional health promotion whic h is targeted to women not planning a pregnancy in the immediate futur e is associated with a higher rate of intendedness in subsequent pregn ancies. Expansion of similar preconceptional programs in family planni ng clinics may prove a useful approach for promoting intendedness of p regnancy in low-income women.