Prenatal care

Abstract: This study was conducted in order to find ways to draw more women into prenatal care early in pregnancy and sustain their participation until delivery. The evidence of prenatal care's value and cost effectiveness and the trend away from utilizing prenatal care prompted this study. Topics include: who obtains insufficient prenatal care?; barriers to the use of prenatal care; women's perceptions of barriers to prenatal care; improving the use of prenatal care programs; and, prenatal care outreach. The study includes a smmary of 31 prenatal care programs throughout the U.S.