The effect of a preconception care outreach strategy: the Healthy Pregnancy 4 All study
Open accessAbstract
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.
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Several studies aimed to implement preconception care (PCC) programs and some successfully led to an improved level of knowledge regarding PCC and subsequent improved periconceptional lifestyle behaviours.
“Several studies aimed to implement PCC programs and some successfully led to an improved level of knowledge regarding PCC and subsequent improved periconceptional lifestyle behaviours [7, 18–20].”
From Associations between periconceptional lifestyle behaviours and adverse pregnancy outcomes (2021) · cites this paper as [19]
The Methods describe an implemented PCC outreach strategy, and the Conclusion reports a small, temporary increase in PCC uptake. The Results describe participants’ existing knowledge, but the paper does not report improved knowledge or subsequent improvements in periconceptional lifestyle behaviours. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Sijpkens, M. K., van Voorst, S. F., de Jong-Potjer, L. C., Denktaş, S., Verhoeff, A. P., Bertens, L. C. M., Rosman, A. N., & Steegers, E. A. P.
- Affiliations
- Erasmus MC (NL)
- GGD Amsterdam (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Sijpkens, Meertien K.
- ORCID
- Venue
- BMC Health Services Research
- Published
- 2019-01-23
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 60-60
- ISSN
- 1472-6963 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6343258
- OpenAlex
- W2921228549
- Cited by
- 32
- References
- 32
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 8.52
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- BMC Health Services Research (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- RePub (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- RePub (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Ministerie van Volksgezondheid, Welzijn en Sport (318 804)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Maternal and Neonatal Healthcare
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Reproductive Health and Contraception
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Health Promotion and Cardiovascular Prevention
- Keywords
- preconception care, outreach strategies, perinatal morbidity, perinatal mortality, invitation letters, peer health educators, general practitioners, municipal health services, preventive child health care, women of reproductive age, community-based intervention
- MeSH terms
- Facilities and Services Utilization, Adolescent, Adult, Child Health Services, Child, Preschool, Female, Health Promotion, Humans, Infant, Infant, Newborn, Netherlands, Patient Acceptance of Health Care, Pregnancy, Pregnancy Complications, Pregnancy Outcome, Preventive Health Services, Prospective Studies, Surveys and Questionnaires, Socioeconomic Factors, Preconception Care, Young Adult, General Practitioners
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