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Needs Assessment For Creating A Patient-Centered, Community-Engaged Health Program For Homeless Pregnant Women, Tegan Ake, Sabina Diehr, Leslie Ruffalo, Emily Farias, Ashton Fitzgerald, Samuel D. Good, Lindsay B. Howard, Stefan P. Kostelyna, Linda N. Meurer

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

Purpose: Women who experience homelessness during pregnancy have poorer birth outcomes than the general population. This exploratory research describes the needs assessment of homeless women currently living at a shelter in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to identify unmet needs related to maternal and infant perinatal health as the first step in designing a mutually beneficial patient-centered service-learning program for medical students to address these needs.

Methods: Two 1-hour focus groups were held at a shelter for women who are homeless and/or victims of domestic violence. A total of 13 women participated in each session; four medical students and a physician served as …