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Multicenter Study
. 2019 Jan 23;19(1):60.
doi: 10.1186/s12913-019-3882-y.

The effect of a preconception care outreach strategy: the Healthy Pregnancy 4 All study

Meertien K Sijpkens  1 , Sabine F van Voorst  2 , Lieke C de Jong-Potjer  2 , Semiha Denktaş  2   3   4 , Arnoud P Verhoeff  5   6 , Loes C M Bertens  2 , Ageeth N Rosman  2 , Eric A P Steegers  2
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

The effect of a preconception care outreach strategy: the Healthy Pregnancy 4 All study

Meertien K Sijpkens et al. BMC Health Serv Res. .

Abstract

Background: Preconception care has been acknowledged as an intervention to reduce perinatal mortality and morbidity. However, utilization of preconception care is low because of low awareness of availability and benefits of the service. An outreach strategy was employed to promote uptake of preconception care consultations. Its effect on the uptake of preconception care consultations was evaluated within the Healthy Pregnancy 4 All study.

Methods: We conducted a community-based intervention study. The outreach strategy for preconception care consultations included four approaches: (1) letters from municipal health services; (2) letters from general practitioners; (3) information leaflets by preventive child healthcare services and (4) encouragement by peer health educators. The target population was set as women aged 18 to 41 years in 14 Dutch municipalities with relatively high perinatal morbidity and mortality rates. We evaluated the effect of the outreach strategy by analyzing uptake of preconception care consultations between February 2013 and December 2014. Registration data of applications for preconception care as well as participant questionnaires were obtained for analysis.

Results: The outreach strategy led to 587 applications for preconception care consultations. The majority of applications (n = 424; 72%) were prompted by the invitation letters (132,129) from the municipalities and general practitioners. The effect of the municipal letter seemed to fade out after 3 months.

Conclusions: Outreach strategies amongst the general population promote uptake of preconception care consultations, although on a small scale and with a temporary effect.

Keywords: Health behavior; Health care utilization; Implementation; Preconception care; Primary care.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study has been approved by the Daily Board of the Medical Ethics Committee Erasmus MC of Rotterdam, the Netherlands (MEC 2012-425). Written informed consent was obtained from all participants of the cohort study.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flowchart Healthy Pregnancy 4 All preconception care strategy and study
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Participant enrollment in the cohort study
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Reasons to apply for a PCC consultation. Participants could choose multiple reasons; three participants did not give any reason (n = 234)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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