It was
Wednesday, May 21 at 10AM, the start of the 217th CenteringPregnancy group at
Greenville Health Systems OB-Gyn Clinic in Greenville, SC. As participants
arrived, one with a friend, one with her cousin and her mother, one with her
husband, others on their own, Nora, an assistant facilitator, greeted them and gave them supplies to
make their name tags. She showed
each mom the routine for the first 30 minutes of each Centering session: Take your blood
pressure like this; record it here. This is what the numbers mean… Weigh
yourself; record it here. When she calls you, have a private visit
and brief exam with Vicki,
the nurse practitioner. Have a
snack, visit with other participants, or ask the midwife a private question.
Then for the next 90 minutes the
group of 9 expectant, mostly first-time mothers sat in circle with their supporters and three
facilitators, and me, the visitor there to learn about Centering. The initial
awkwardness faded quickly. After
self-introductions and a lively, laughter-punctuated discussion of current
issues from morning sickness to cravings to farting; a basket of plastic food
items was passed around and we took turns talking about the items we chose. “So will you eat that during your pregnancy?”, Nora asked the group gesturing to the chocolate
dipped ice cream cone. Yes, the
group decided —after all
it is summer in SC. But not every day; as a special treat because it’s loaded with sugar and fat. At closing we each said
one thing we were going to do to stay or get healthy during this pregnancy… walk, drink water instead of sweet tea, try eating
vegetables. Does
CenteringPregnancy promote maternal health literacy? This
opening session was also the kickoff of the CenteringPregnancy
Health Literacy Trial, although the group will not hear about until
their next session. The trial aims
to assess the capacity of CenteringPregnancy to promote maternal health
literacy and empowerment. A secondary aim to is validate the Maternal Health
Literacy Self Assessment designed for the project. We anticipate that the Centering model promotes mothers’ health literacy and health empowerment by supporting
knowledge gain and changes in health behaviors and healthcare utilization
practices. Previous studies have shown that social support from home
visitors is a catalyst for improved health literacy. In those studies, visitors
were trained to “Teach by Asking”, that is to ask reflect questions instead of
delivering health education. In Centering, rather than teaching and informing,
facilitators ask questions to elicit the group wisdom. The group provides
social support. By
luck of the draw, about 120 pregnant women participating in CenteringPregnancy at
this Greenville clinic will comprise the comparison group in the trial; other
than completing the Self-Assessment, they will receive “usual care” in the
CenteringPregnancy model. An equal
number of participants at a second site will incorporate Beginnings
Pregnancy Guide into the program along with the Self-Assessments. We will
see if providing additional information promotes health literacy more than “usual care”. Stay
tuned for more on the Maternal Health Literacy Self-Assessment. |
 |
|||||
 
CategoriesHealth LiteracyMaternal Child Health Test |
|
 |
|||
    |
|||||
