Child Care as a Barrier to Perinatal Health Care in Illinois

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Matern Child Health J
• Personal Author:
  Holicky, Abigail ; Anderson-Reeves, Timika ; Bennett, Amanda C. ; Lightner, Shannon ; McRae, Kenya D. ; Handler, Arden
• Description:
  Purpose
  
  Within a multi-state Collaborative Improvement and Innovation Network addressing the social determinants of health during 2017–2020, the Illinois Department of Public Health led an exploratory project to understand how the availability of child care affects maternal health care utilization. The project assessed whether lack of child care was a barrier to perinatal health care utilization and gathered information on health facility practices, resources, and policies related to child care
  
  Description
  
  TWe surveyed (1) birthing hospitals (n = 98), (2) federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) (n = 40), and (3) a convenience sample of postpartum persons (n = 60).
  
  Assessment
  
  Each group reported that child care concerns negatively affect health care utilization (66% of birthing hospitals, 50% of FQHCs, and 32% of postpartum persons). Among postpartum persons, the most common reported reason for missing a visit due to child care issues was “not feeling comfortable leaving my child(ren) in the care of others” (22%). The most common child care resource reported by facilities was “staff watching children” (53% of birthing hospitals, 75% of FQHCs); however, most did not have formal child care policies or dedicated space for children. Fewer than half of FQHCs (43%) discussed child care at the first prenatal visit.
  
  Conclusion
  
  The project prompted the Illinois Title V program to add a child care-related strategy to their 2021–2025 Action Plan, providing opportunity for further examination of practices and policies that could be implemented to reduce child care barriers to perinatal care. Systematically addressing child care in health care settings may improve health care utilization among birthing/postpartum persons.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Child Child Care Delivery Of Health Care Female Humans Illinois Infant, Newborn Maternal Health Services Perinatal Care Pregnancy
• Keywords:
  Barriers To Perinatal Health Care Child Care Maternal Health Social Determinants Of Health Survey Development
• Source:
  Matern Child Health J. 28(2):221-228
• Pubmed ID:
  37831338
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC10922574
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/ ; UFMC31237/HRSA/HRSA HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  28
• Issue:
  2
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:4932305ed7ba1454b6d4b4c95671ff233d560539eb19ce2597d9ec63b121d3d3e87fe7e2bca5dcbec12acb17ebca8578168d70f662ccf19121c5454f617e5163
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/151631/cdc_151631_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 338.23 KB ]