MEASUREMENT OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING SERVICES TO PRENATAL CLIENTS.
Contributors: University Of Illinois At Chicago, Health Sciences Center.
Published: 1992
Number of pages: 168
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: Timing of initial public health nurse contact and number of the nurse contacts were examined for their relationships to adequacy of prenatal physician care, infant birthweight, and gestational age. Three historical cohort groups were drawn from three downstate Illinois counties: (a) public health nursing clients (N = 506), (b) clients of the Women, Infant, and Children's Nutrition Program (N = 314), and (c) clients receiving neither of these services (N = 403). Data were obtained from the public health nursing records of local health departments and the Illinois State birth certificate data tape for the years 1987 and 1988. Descriptive statistics and logistic and multiple regression were used to analyze data.

Findings revealed that (a) timing of initial public health nursing contact was correlated related to adequacy of prenatal physician contact, and (b) number of public health nursing contacts prenatally during pregnancy was significantly correlated to infant gestational age. No relationship was found between either timing of initial public health nursing contact or number of these contacts and infant birthweight. Number of public health nursing and physician contacts exerted an additive effect on infant birthweight and gestational age. The findings lend support for casefinding activities which result in PHN contacts early in pregnancy. Importance of multi-disciplinary approaches to prenatal care is suggested.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-08, Section: B, page: 4025.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO, HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER, 1992.

School code: 0806.