RELATIONSHIP OF CLIENT CHARACTERISTICS TO HEALTH BEHAVIORS AND WEEKS GESTATION AT THE FIRST PRENATAL VISIT IN BLACK AND WHITE WOMEN RECEIVING PREPAID, UNIFORM HEALTH CARE.
Contributors: Catholic University of America.
Published: 1989
Number of pages: 194
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Public Health.; Sociology, Ethnic and Racial Studies.
Description: This study examined the relationships between client characteristics, health behaviors, and weeks gestation at the first prenatal visit in black and white women receiving pre-paid, uniform health care. The Interaction Model of Client Health Behavior (Cox, 1982) provided the theoretical framework.

This descriptive comparative ex post facto study was conducted in a large health maintenance organization. Eighty black women and 82 white women from 20 to 39 years who were purposively selected completed a set of instruments measuring social support, perceived stress, health behaviors, intrinsic motivation, demographic and prenatal factors. Prenatal medical records were reviewed.

Discriminant function analysis revealed that the variables jointly predicted the women by race accurately in 81% of the women. The best predictors of race were socioeconomic status of the father, education of the mother, intrinsic motivation, negative life events, and acceptance of pregnancy. Race, however, did not emerge as a significant variable in the regression analyses. Multiple regression analyses demonstrated the ability of the independent variables to explain 45% of the variance in health behaviors and 23% of the variance in weeks gestation at the first prenatal visit. The variables best predicting health behaviors were: socioeconomic status of the father, social support, general wellbeing, and intrinsic motivation. The variables which best predicted weeks gestation at the first prenatal visit were acceptance of pregnancy and general wellbeing. Canonical correlations of the variable sets were significant with the coefficients weighted on socioeconomic status of the father and social support for health behaviors and acceptance of pregnancy, marital status, and general wellbeing for weeks gestation at the first prenatal visit. All of the research hypotheses were supported.

Implications of this study are the need for more health behavior education earlier and more frequently in the pregnancy for women and their husbands/partners of lower socioeconomic status. Strategies to include men in early pregnancy education need to be explored. Literature should be developed especially for men.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-06, Section: B, page: 2339.

Thesis (D.N.SC.)--THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA, 1989.

School code: 0043.