Assessing Preconception Wellness in the Clinical Setting Using Electronic Health Data.

Background: One key strategy to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality involves optimizing prepregnancy health. Although nine core indicators of preconception wellness (PCW) have been proposed by clinical experts, few studies have attempted to assess the preconception health status of a population using these indicators. Methods: We conducted a retrospective chart review study of patients who received prenatal or primary care, identified by pregnancy-related ICD-10 codes, at either of two health systems in geographically and socioeconomically different areas of North Carolina between October 1, 2015, and September 30, 2018. Our primary study aim was to determine the feasibility of measuring the proposed PCW indicators through retrospective review of prenatal electronic health records at these two institutions. Results: Data were collected from 15,384 patients at Site 1 and 6,983 patients at Site 2. The indicators most likely to be documented and to meet the preconception health goal at each site were avoidance of teratogenic medications (98.8% and 98.3% at Sites 1 and 2, respectively) and entry to care in the first trimester (64.5% and 73.5% at Sites 1 and 2, respectively), whereas our measures of folic acid use, depression screening, and discussion of family planning were documented less than 20% of the time at both sites. Conclusions: Differences in measuring and documenting PCW indicators across the two health systems in our study presented barriers to monitoring and optimizing PCW. Efforts to address health and wellness before pregnancy will likely require health systems and payors to standardize, incorporate, and promote preconception health indicators that can be consistently measured and analyzed across health systems.

Feasibility of using an iPod touch device and acceptability of a stigma reduction intervention with HIV-infected women in the Deep South.

As with many infectious diseases throughout history, stigma is a part of the trajectory of the HIV disease process. HIV-related stigma impedes women from being tested for HIV. Once infected, HIV-related stigma hinders women from disclosing their HIV status to sexual partners and health care providers, engaging in medical care, effectively self-managing the disease after infection, and adhering to anti-retroviral therapy. After three decades of the HIV epidemic, no evidenced-based, culturally relevant, gender-specific interventions exist to help women infected with HIV manage the stigma associated with HIV infection. This manuscript reports the feasibility of using an iPod touch device and acceptability of a stigma reduction intervention with HIV-infected women in the Deep South in a mixed-method, randomized clinical trial. Results from the study demonstrate that it is feasible to utilize an iPod touch device to deliver an HIV-related stigma intervention to women. Further, women report that the HIV-related stigma intervention is acceptable and meaningful.

A randomized controlled trial of the efficacy of a stigma reduction intervention for HIV-infected women in the Deep South.

The aim of this study was to compare outcomes (self-esteem, coping self-efficacy, and internalized stigma) across time in HIV-infected women living in the Deep South who received a stigma reduction intervention (n=51) with those of a control group (n=49) who received the usual care at baseline, and at 30 and 90 days. We recruited 99 women from clinics and an AIDS service organization; they were randomized by recruitment site. A video developed from the results of a qualitative metasynthesis study of women with HIV infection was loaded onto iPod Touch devices. Participants were asked to watch the video weekly for 4 weeks, and to record the number of times they viewed it over a 12-week period. We examined the trajectory model results for efficacy outcomes for the intent-to-treat and the supplemental completers groups. There was a treatment-by-time effect for improved self-esteem (intent-to-treat: p=0.0308; completers: p=0.0284) and decreases in internalized stigma (intent-to-treat: p=0.0036; completers: p=0.0060), and a treatment-by-time-by-time effect for improved coping self-efficacy (intent-to-treat: p=0.0414; completers: p=0.0321). A medium effect of the intervention in terms of improving self-esteem was observed when compared with the control condition in those who completed the study. The magnitude of the intervention effect, however, was large with regard to reducing overall stigma, improving social relationships, and decreasing stereotypes in both groups.