How Do Women Prepare for Pregnancy? Preconception Experiences of Women Attending Antenatal Services and Views of Health Professionals
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MAIN OBJECTIVE: To determine the extent to which women plan and prepare for pregnancy. METHODS: Cross-sectional questionnaire survey of pregnant women attending three maternity services in London about knowledge and uptake of preconception care; including a robust measure of pregnancy planning, and phone interviews with a range of health care professionals. MAIN RESULTS: We recruited 1173/1288 (90%) women, median age of 32 years. 73% had clearly planned their pregnancy, 24% were ambivalent and only 3% of pregnancies were unplanned. 51% of all women and 63% of those with a planned pregnancy took folic acid before pregnancy. 21% of all women reported smoking and 61% reported drinking alcohol in the 3 months before pregnancy; 48% of smokers and 41% of drinkers reduced or stopped before pregnancy. The 51% of all women who reported advice from a health professional before becoming pregnant were more likely to adopt healthier behaviours before pregnancy [adjusted odds ratios for greatest health professional input compared with none were 2.34 (95% confidence interval 1.54-3.54) for taking folic acid and 2.18 (95% CI 1.42-3.36) for adopting a healthier diet before pregnancy]. Interviews with 20 health professionals indicated low awareness of preconception health issues, missed opportunities and confusion about responsibility for delivery of preconception care. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FINDINGS: Despite a high level of pregnancy planning, awareness of preconception health among women and health professionals is low, and responsibility for providing preconception care is unclear. However, many women are motivated to adopt healthier behaviours in the preconception period, as indicated by halving of reported smoking rates in this study. The link between health professional input and healthy behaviour change before pregnancy is a new finding that should invigorate strategies to improve awareness and uptake of pre-pregnancy health care, and bring wider benefits for public health.
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Awareness of preconception health and care is low.
“Although some studies suggest that awareness of preconception health and care is low, pregnancy planning appears relatively common, indicating a missed and unexploited opportunity for intervention [56–58].”
From Associations between periconceptional lifestyle behaviours and adverse pregnancy outcomes (2021) · cites this paper as [56]
Pregnancy planning appears relatively common.
“Although some studies suggest that awareness of preconception health and care is low, pregnancy planning appears relatively common, indicating a missed and unexploited opportunity for intervention [56–58].”
From Associations between periconceptional lifestyle behaviours and adverse pregnancy outcomes (2021) · cites this paper as [56]
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- Authors
- Stephenson, J., Patel, D., Barrett, G., Howden, B., Copas, A., Ojukwu, O., Pandya, P., & Shawe, J.
- Affiliations
- University College London (GB)
- Brunel University of London (GB)
- University College Hospital (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Stephenson, Judith
- ORCID
- Venue
- PLoS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2014-07-24
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- e103085
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4109981
- OpenAlex
- W1998100168
- Cited by
- 210
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 48 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 28 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 8
- FWCI
- 19.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Surrey Research Insight Open Access (The University of Surrey) (submittedVersion)
- Brunel University Research Archive (BURA) (Brunel University London) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
- National Institute for Health and Care Research (NF-SI-0513-10099)
- Medical Research Council (MR/K006584/1)
- 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 › Pregnancy and Medication Impact
- Keywords
- preconception care, pregnancy planning, prenatal care, folic acid supplementation, smoking cessation, alcohol consumption, provider recommendation, health professional awareness, missed opportunities, maternal health behavior, pregnant women
- MeSH terms
- Workforce, Adult, Attitude of Health Personnel, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Health Occupations, Humans, Maternal Health Services, Perception, Pregnancy, Prenatal Care, Surveys and Questionnaires, Health Behavior, Preconception Care, Young Adult
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