Low birth weight and preterm birth are the primary factors responsible for neonatal deaths, perinatal deaths, and infants with permanent neurological damage. African American (AA) women are twice as likely as Caucasian women to deliver low birth weight or preterm infants. Low-income women are at an even higher risk for poor pregnancy outcomes. Perceived stress and poor social support are import factors that impact the higher incidence of low birth weight and preterm birth. Social support buffers the effect of stressors and improves pregnancy outcomes. The purpose of the study is to test the effect of an innovative World Wide Web (web) based social support intervention on stressors during pregnancy; pregnancy related health behaviors; and pregnancy outcomes of gestational, intrapartal, and neonatal complications in low-income pregnant AA women. The study is a pretest-posttest control group design with random assignment to Web page group and standard care group. The sample will consist of 40 pregnant AA women between the ages of 18-39 in the first trimester of pregnancy. To be included, women must be classified as low obstetrical risk, pregnant for the first time, carrying a singleton pregnancy, have electricity, functioning television set, functioning phone line, and agree to have a WebTV installed in their home. The population of interest will be accessed from a prenatal clinic of a regional hospital in the southeastern United States. The variables of social support; stressors during pregnancy (global stress, pregnancy related stress, life events, mood states); pregnancy related health behavior (weight gain, nutrient intake, physical activity); and pregnancy outcomes (gestational, intrapartal, neonatal complications) will be measured using instruments designed for use with culturally diverse low income pregnant women. All subjects will complete pretest instruments between 10 and 20 weeks gestation. Subjects in the web page group will receive standard of care, have WebTV installed in their homes, be taught how to use the system, be taught how to access the Health Pregnancy web page. Subjects in the standard care group will receive stand care and be given a written copy of the information contained on the Health Pregnancy web page. Posttest data will be collected after 28 weeks gestation. Pretest and posttest measurement must be at least 10 weeks apart. The hypotheses will be tested using ANCOVA, ANOVA, Chi-Square, and test of proportion.
| Herman, JoAnne; Mock, Kathryn; Blackwell, Deborah et al. (2005) Use of a pregnancy support web site by low-income African American women. J Obstet Gynecol Neonatal Nurs 34:713-20 |
