Psychosocial Influences on Patterns of Prenatal Care Among Rural Alabama Black Women

摘要

The purpose of the study was to obtain a better understanding of the bases underlying the decisions of rural Black women regarding health care during pregnancy. Subjects of the study were 208 Black pregnant women residing in six rural counties in West Alabama. Data were obtained by means of two interviews conducted with each woman during her pregnancy and within one month following the delivery of her baby. The level of knowledge possessed by participants in the study about the physical changes and health care requirements of pregnancy was found to be seriously limited. One consequence of this was that women frequently responded inappropriately to symptoms they experienced during pregnancy, failing to refer potentially serious symptoms to a physician for treatment. At the same time it was found that their responses to symptoms experienced depended upon their perceptions of the severity of those symptoms - symptoms perceived as serious were referred to a physician for treatment while those perceived as not serious, or normal, were self-treated. Because of frequent misinterpretations of severity, however, many potentially serious symptoms were never reported to a physician.