Browsing by Subject "Prenatal care"
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Item Development of the prenatal health inventory of behaviors (PHI-B)(2002-05) Fleschler, Robin Gail Muhlbauer; Walker, Lorraine OlszewskiHealth promoting behaviors have a critical influence on outcomes during pregnancy, at delivery, and on life-long health in women. Despite the significance of these behaviors, scientifically sound and comprehensive measures of health behaviors during pregnancy and preconception are lacking. The purpose of this study was to develop a comprehensive, psychometrically sound inventory to measure women’s health behaviors associated with the preconception and pregnancy time periods. The study was divided into four phases. Phase I focused on conceptualization of prenatal health behavior utilizing Rubin’s construct of maternal tasks and an extensive literature review. Critical domains and definitions of healthy behavior associated with pregnancy were generated. During Phase II items representing these domains were developed with help of perinatal experts and construction of the inventory took place. Phase III consisted of a pilot study. Individual pregnant women, as well as two groups of pregnant women, completed the inventory and critiqued it for readability, redundancy, format, cultural sensitivity, and completion time. Based on their comments and item analysis, the inventory, renamed the Prenatal Health Inventory of Behaviors (PHI-B), consisted of 45 items. Phase IV was the main study to test reliability and validity of the PHI-B in a multi-ethnic sample of 333 pregnant women. During this phase the PHI-B demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency reliability for the scale as a whole (coefficient alpha = .82), but coefficient alphas for the theorized domain subscales ranged from poor to adequate. Preliminary factor analysis and a content validity index failed to support the theorized domain subscales. Further factor analysis revealed a five-factor solution, somewhat dissimilar from the original theorized domains of health behavior. These five factors were named Surveillance of Health, Good Health Practices, Ensuring Safety, Balancing Health, and Adherence. Evidence of test-retest reliability for these factor-analytic based subscales was found. Evidence of concurrent validity was provided by obtaining Pearson correlations between scores of well-being, depression, and physical discomforts, while evidence of convergent and divergent validity of the inventory was found with a general measure of health behaviors and a measure of social desirability, respectively. Assessing factor-analytic subscales for hypothesis-based construct validity revealed interesting associations, particularly for stress management and depressive symptoms.Item Perceptions of prenatal care in older adolescent Latinas(2014-05) Torres, Rosamar; Rew, Lynn; Brown, Adama; Garcia, Alexandria; Padilla, Yolanda; Walker, LorraineThe knowledge that initiation of prenatal care after the first trimester of pregnancy is associated with poor fetal and maternal outcomes has led to increased efforts to improve access to prenatal care in the U.S. Despite these efforts, Latinas continue to underutilize these services and enter care late. Pregnant adolescent Latinas are at increased risk for morbidity and mortality during pregnancy and labor, thereby increasing risks for mortality, blindness, deafness, mental retardation, and cerebral palsy in their the neonates. The current literature surrounding perceptions of prenatal care focuses on women overall without taking into account culture, ethnicity or age. Thus, little is known about adolescent Latinas’ perceptions of prenatal care and why they enter care late. Hence the purpose of this study was to critique the literature regarding Latinas and their perceptions of prenatal care; to determine the psychometric properties of The Perceptions of Prenatal Care Survey which was piloted in the Phase I of the dissertation; to identify perceptions of prenatal care in older adolescent Latinas utilizing the Access Barriers to Care Index and the Perceptions of Prenatal Care Survey in Phase II of the study; and to determine if relationships exist between variables in the conceptual model and participants’ adequacy of and timely entry into prenatal care. Phase I revealed the survey had good internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.88) and validity (S-CVI =0.81). Phase II revealed that a majority (94.5%) of participants perceived that timely prenatal care as important; however, only 55.6% entered care on time. Over 70% of the sample had experienced personal and healthcare imposed barriers when accessing prenatal care. Social support from partners and friends was associated with adequate prenatal care; and having some college education was associated with timely prenatal care. Influence from healthcare workers did not have a statistically significant effect on timely or adequate prenatal care. Due to sampling issues and possible response bias, the study is limited. Future research on this topic calls for more stringent sampling measures that will take race, acculturation, nativity and immigration status into consideration.Item The diuretic effect of head-out water immersion and exercise in pregnancy(Texas Tech University, 1986-12) Grafa, Colleen ShepperdNot available