Maternal, Child Health and Neonatal Nursing Commons^™

Quality Of Prenatal Care And Pregnancy Outcomes: Centering Pregnancy Versus Traditional Prenatal Care, Lisette M. Allender

Nursing Theses and Dissertations

Prenatal care provides a unique opportunity for healthcare providers to improve outcomes for women and their families and by extension community health. Therefore, prenatal care has the opportunity to become the cornerstone of healthcare in our nation. It can influence the health of the mother, newborn, and family unit long beyond the course of a 9-month pregnancy. However, evidence supporting positive outcomes from current tradition based models of prenatal care is lacking.

The current United States prenatal system limits the patient-provider relationship, does not empower the patient, lacks emphasis on education, and is not woman-centered. The aim of the study …