Principal Investigators:
Patience Afulani, MBChB, MPH, PhD | Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics | Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health
Background
Given the stark disparities in maternal mortality and adverse birth outcomes impacting Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, there is a need to better understand and measure how individuals from these communities experience prenatal and maternity care.
Objective
To adapt an existing scale to measure person-centered maternity care (PCMC) and person-centered prenatal pare (PCPC) that reflects the experiences of people of color using community-engaged approaches.
Method
We used standard procedures for developing measurement tools combined with community engagement to adapt the PCMC scale that had been validated in low resource countries for use in the US—with particular attention to addressing the needs and experiences of people of color. We conducted cognitive interviews with potential respondents to assess clarity, appropriateness, and relevance of the questions. The questions were then refined and administered in an online survey open to people who live in California and had given birth in the past year.
Results
With feedback from the community, we created two separate scales to reflect two phases of care—prenatal and maternity care. We created a 35-item PCMC-US scale and a 34-item PCPC scale as well as shorter 26-item PCPC scale, all scales have high validity and reliability in a sample made up predominantly of Black women.
Conclusion
This scale will facilitate measurement to improve person-centered prenatal and maternity care for people of color, which will contribute to reducing the disparities in birth outcomes among people of color.
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Funded projects
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Evaluation of an adapted fatherhood curriculum to strengthen paternal involvement dur...
The purpose of the study is to evaluate an adapted fatherhood program to enhance paternal involvement during pregnancy in Fresno, CA....
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Multi-Stakeholder Engagement with State Policies to Advance Antiracism in Maternal He...
California has passed a new law (SB464) that requires perinatal clinicians to undergo implicit bias training, with the goal of...
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Exploring women’s experiences to inform Drug and Alcohol Pregnancy Policies study (D-...
Evidence remains mixed about how many people use cannabis in pregnancy and what the harms of such use may be. It is clear however that...