ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORS OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN AND MEXICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN DELIVERING NEWBORNS IN INNER-CITY LOS-ANGELES

To study some of the factors relating to the care of mothers and newbo rns in an inner-city hospital, three sources of information were revie wed: an obstetric database including information on prenatal care and perinatal mortality, a database of all admissions to the hospital neon atal intensive care unit over the past 5 years, and a detailed questio nnaire concerning attitudes and behaviors of recently delivered women. While analyses from these hospital-based data are not conclusive, the results add evidence for the following propositions: 1) Optimal prena tal care is infrequently obtained by mothers delivering at inner-city hospitals. Lack of prenatal care is clearly associated with increased perinatal mortality. While the need for prenatal care is appreciated b y 98% of the mothers in this sample, the most frequent reasons why pre natal care is not obtained earlier or more frequently involve knowledg e about and access to prenatal care. 2) Inner-city mothers, in general , manifest attitudes and behaviors that promote the welfare of their p regnancies and newborns. These attitudes and behaviors are in stark co ntrast to those that are frequently attributed to inner-city women by the media. 3) Acute perinatal medical and nursing care are perceived b y many postpartum women as suboptimal, particularly in terms of the la ck of respect shown to patients by nurses and doctors. 4) Improved acu te obstetric and neonatal care improves perinatal morbidity and mortal ity of infants delivered at inner-city hospitals.-