Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Prenatal Care Choices In Appalachia: A Qualitative, Critical Realist Description & Content Analysis, Julia Cain Phillippi

Doctoral Dissertations

Introduction: Appalachian women have high rates of preterm birth and low birth weight infants. A new format of group prenatal care, known as CenteringPregnancy, decreases the rate of preterm birth and low birth weight when compared with individual care. However, clinics in Appalachia often struggle to recruit women into group care. Theory & Methods: Using critical realism and the middle-range theory of motivation-ease as frameworks, this qualitative study had two research questions: ‘What influences Appalachian women’s choice of traditional prenatal care instead of CenteringPregnancy care?’ and ‘What are Appalachian women’s perceptions of prenatal care and their access to prenatal care?’. …