Perceptions about Prenatal Care among Health Providers and Mexican-American Community Women: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

Latino women in California have less access to health care, particularly prenatal care, than any other ethnic group. This exploratory study identified perceptions about prenatal care needs, barriers to utilization of health services and common health behaviors during pregnancy among a sample of Mexican American women and a sample of prenatal care providers. The research used a combination of written questionnaires and focus-group discussions to gather data from a sample of sixty Mexican American community women, and a written questionnaire only to get information from a sample of forty providers. Results showed that providers perceived Mexican American women as doing better than non-Latino women regarding a series of health behaviors during pregnancy and as doing worse regarding another set of prenatal care behaviors. Results also showed that Mexican American pregnant teenagers are at particularly high risk regarding prenatal care due to a combination of structural and cultural factors. Acculturation was found to be an important factor affecting prenatal care beliefs and behaviors among this population. This relationship deserves further study. The influence of acculturation also needs to be considered in the design of prenatal care communication strategies with Mexican American women.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

COSSMHO, Delivering Preventive Health Care to Hispanics: A Manual for Providers, The National Coalition for Hispanic Health and Human Services Organization, Washington, D.C., 1989.

Alcalay

Sabogal

Gribble

, Profile of Latino Health and Implications for Health Education, Community Health Education, 12: 2, pp. 151–162, 1991.

U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Current Population Reports, Series P-No 438, The Hispanic Population in the United States: March 1988, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1989.

Short

Monheit

Beauregard

, A Profile of Uninsured Americans, (DHHS Publication No. (PHS) 89-3443), Public Health Service, Rockville, Maryland, 1989.

Williams

R. L.

Chen

, 1978 California Birth Cohort: Perinatal Statistics Organized by Hospital and Geographic Areas, Department of Health Services, State of California, 1981.

Miller

Monitoring Children's Health: Key Indicators, American Public Health Association Report, Washington, D.C., 1986.

Marks

Garcia

Solis

, Health Risk Behaviors of Hispanics in the United States: Findings from HHANES, 1982–84, American Journal of Public Health, 80, pp. 20–26, 1990.

Roberts

Lee

, Medical Care Use by Mexican Americans: Evidence from the Human Population Laboratory Studies, Mexican Care, 18, pp. 266–281, 1980.

Chavez

Cornelius

Jones

, Mexican Immigrants and the Utilization of U.S. Health Services: The Case of San Diego, Social Science and Medicine, 21, pp. 93–102, 1985.

10.

Western Economic Research Company, Population and Race Data by Census Tracts in California, 13437 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, California, 1980.

11.

U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, We Nosotros, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1985.

12.

Williams

Binkin

Clingman

, Pregnancy Outcome among Spanish Surname Women in California, American Journal of Public Health, 72, pp. 387–391, 1986.

13.

Marin

Padilla

, Attitudes and Practices of Low-Income Hispanic Contraceptors, occasional paper No. 13 13, Spanish Speaking Mental Health Research Center, University of California, Los Angeles, 1981.

14.

Alcalay

, Perinatal Care Services for Hispanic Women: A Study of Provider-Patient Communication, International Quarterly of Community Health Education, 2, pp. 199–214, 1982.

15.

Medina

, Hispanic Maternity Care: A Study of Deficiencies and Recommended Policies, Public Affairs Report, 21, University of California, Berkeley, 1980.

16.

Solis

Marks

Garcia

Shelton

, Acculturation, Access to Care and Use of Preventive Services by Hispanics: Findings from HHANES 1982–84, American Journal of Public Health, 80, pp. 11–19, 1990.

17.

Marin

Van Oss

Otero-Sabogal

Sabogal

Perez-Stable

, The Role of Acculturation in the Attitudes, Norms, and Expectancies of Hispanic Smokers, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 20: 4, pp. 399–415, 1989.

18.

Haynes

S. G.

Cohen

Harvey

McMillen

, Cigarette Smoking Patterns among Mexican-Americans: HHANES, Southwest United States, 1983–84, paper presented at the meeting of the American Public Health Association, Washington, D.C., 1985.

19.

Marin

B. V.

Perez-Stable

, Cigarette Smoking among San Francisco Hispanics, American Journal of Public Health, 79, pp. 196–199, 1989.

20.

Guendelman

, The Ethnic Dilemma in Children's Health: Class versus Culture, Border Health, 3, pp. 1–4, 1985.

21.

Clark

, Cultural Context of Medical Practice, The Western Journal of Medicine, 139, pp. 2–7, 1983.

22.

Scrimshaw

Hurtado

, Rapid Assessment Procedures for Nutrition and Primary Health Care, The United Nations University and UCLA Latin American Center Publications, 1987.

23.

Morgan

, Focus Groups as Qualitative Research, Sage Publications, Newberry Park, California, 1988.

24.

Krueger

, Focus Groups: A Practical Guide for Applied Research, Sage Publications, Newberry Park, California, 1988.

25.

Gilbert

M. J.

, Mexican Americans in California: Intracultural Variations in Attitudes and Behavior Related to Alcohol, in The American Experience with Alcohol: Contrasting Cultural Perspectives, Bennet

L. A.

Ames

(eds.), Plenum, New York, 1985.

26.

Guendelman

Gould

Hudes

Eskenazi

, Generational Differences in Perinatal Health among the Mexican American Population: Findings from HHANES 1982–84, American Journal of Public Health, 80, pp. 61–65, 1990.

27.

Health Officers Association of California, Maternal and Child Health Profile for Hispanics in California, Border Maternal and Child Health Project, Sacramento, 1983.