MODIFYING A CHILDBIRTH EDUCATION CURRICULUM FOR 2 SPECIFIC POPULATIONS - INNER-CITY ADOLESCENTS AND SUBSTANCE-USING WOMEN

An interdisciplinary care provider team conducted a nonexperimental, o bservational, descriptive study to determine a childbirth education cu rriculum that would meet the needs of pregnant adolescent and substanc e-using women who attend prenatal clinics at an urban, municipal hospi tal center. A childbirth education curriculum, originally taught to a clinic population in 1974, was used with the two special populations i n 1993 for a 7-month period. Participants were encouraged to provide f eedback about the curriculum for each class by offering suggestions fo r additions or deletions of content. Provider staff also evaluated the content for applicability today. At the end of the study period, the pregnant adolescent group had been most involved with the class exerci ses; members of the group provided feedback about content. They were c onsistently positive in evaluating the entire six-class curriculum and recommended some additional topics. The adolescents demonstrated sust ained interest in breast-feeding. The substance-using women, on the ot her hand, expressed a preference for content that focused on labor and birth; they preferred to ask questions, individually and in the priva cy of the examining room, and showed negligible interest in breast-fee ding.