Evidence Tools
MCHbest. Early Prenatal Care.

Overview. Group prenatal care has been found to contribute to increasing access to early prenatal care.[1,2] Group prenatal care that is offered within the first week of requesting a prenatal appointment contributes to early prenatal care by initiating prenatal care promptly and improving the adequacy of services in a group setting.[1] This grant-funded public-private partnership in Georgia increased access to group prenatal in the southwest of the state. Results demonstrate this as an effective intervention for medically under resourced populations.[1] In addition to group prenatal care, the Glow! Program provides support around the SDOH including stress, social isolation, and how to overcome barriers to prenatal care access and utilization.[2]

Evidence. Moderate Evidence. Strategies with this rating are likely to work. These strategies have been tested more than once and results trend positive overall; however, further research is needed to confirm effects, especially with multiple population groups. These strategies also trend positive in combination with other strategies. (Clarifying Note: The WWFH database calls this "some evidence").

Access the peer-reviewed evidence through the MCH Digital Library or related evidence source. (Read more about understanding evidence ratings). This strategy is also supported as "Group Prenatal Care" in the What Works for Health database.

Source. Peer-Reviewed Literature

Outcome Components. This strategy has shown to have impact on the following outcomes (Read more about these categories):

• Access to/Receipt of Care. This strategy increases the ability for individuals to obtain healthcare services when needed, including preventive, diagnostic, and treatment services.
• Health Outcomes. This strategy helps contribute to reducing avoidable differences among socioeconomic and demographic groups or geographical areas in health status and health outcomes such as disease, disability, or mortality.
• Utilization. This strategy improves the extent to which individuals and communities use available healthcare services.

Detailed Outcomes. For specific outcomes related to each study supporting this strategy, access the peer-reviewed evidence and read the Intervention Results for each study.

Intervention Type. Direct Care (Read more about intervention types and levels as defined by the Public Health Intervention Wheel).

Intervention Level. Community-Focused

Examples from the Field. There are currently no ESMs that use this strategy. As Title V agencies begin to incorporate this strategy into ESMs, examples will be available here. Until then, you can search for ESMs that have similar intervention components in the ESM database.

Sample ESMs. Here are sample ESMs to use as models for your own measures using the Results-Based Accountability framework (for suggestions on how to develop programs to support this strategy, see The Role of Title V in Adapting Strategies).