A pregnancy wellness guide to enhance care through self-assessment, personal reflection, and self-referral

Abstract

Objective: To develop a tool and evaluate its content validity and utility. The tool was designed to be used by women to assess lifestyle and psychosocial factors that could impact their pregnancies and unborn babies. It also provided resources for self-help.

Design: Methodological study in 4 phases.

Setting: Alberta Health Services, Calgary area and community.

Participants: Thirty-five experts and 375 pregnant women.

Methods: Pregnant women and new mothers participated in focus groups to establish content validity; prenatal class attendees completed the self-assessment and a questionnaire, and women from the community completed a questionnaire on the instrument's utility.

Results: Responses from experts and participants in all 4 phases led to changes in the content, wording, and format of the tool. Survey responses indicated that it contained useful information that prompted a number of women to make positive changes during their pregnancies.

Conclusion: The Pregnancy Wellness Guide is a simple tool that can help pregnant women assess their knowledge and health behaviors and self-refer to helpful resources. It will be widely distributed throughout the health region in the urban and rural Calgary area, and its use is anticipated to result in better health outcomes in pregnancy.