Low awareness is not what's causing more than half the low-income women enrolled in a Medicaid managed care plan in Tennessee to avoid getting adequate prenatal care.
Other factors like domestic abuse, self esteem issues and the father's level of involvement top the list of key barriers of care for low-income women enrolled in TennCare Medicaid, according to a study funded by the Prudential Center for Health Care Research in Atlanta.
For instance, women who experienced physical violence during pregnancy were 3.5 times more likely to receive late prenatal care.
However, researchers found that most women knew the value of prenatal care and had positive attitudes about it. The study concludes that public health communicators need to focus more on personal factors that may influence a woman's decision to get prenatal care and less on income levels, race, lack of transportation and negative attitudes.
(Prudential Health Care Research, Dr. Julie Gazmararian, 770/801-7880)