Exploring women's perspectives on prenatal screening for adverse childhood experiences.

OBJECTIVE: To learn more about women's views on screening for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) during healthcare visits in pregnancy. DESIGN: Mixed methods with an online survey. SAMPLE: A convenience sample of 154 women with a history of one or more pregnancies was recruited through public health department social media pages in one predominantly rural region of a Midwest state. MEASUREMENTS: Quantitative measures included demographic variables, ACE scores, and preferences regarding screening format, strategies, and resources. Additional perspectives were captured through open-ended questions. RESULTS: Women's mean ACE score was 2.56 (SD = 2.37) with 68% reporting 0-3 ACEs and 32% reporting four or more. Routine screening for ACEs during prenatal care was supported by 67.5% of women with 9.1% indicating sometimes, 20.8% unsure, and 2.6% against. Strong preference was indicated for screening by one's physician or midwife (80.3%), in an exam room (83.1%), using an independently completed questionnaire (64.2%). Preferred approaches for screening and post-screening interventions also were identified with qualitative themes providing additional insights. CONCLUSIONS: Findings inform strategies for efficiently and sensitively screening for ACEs during pregnancy, highlight the importance of using a trauma-informed approach, and provide direction for educational and interventional resource development.

Videoconferencing expands nursing students' cultural realm.

Nurse educators struggle to provide culturally diverse community health clinical placements that cultivate cultural awareness, knowledge, and competence among baccalaureate nursing students. Public health nurses observe that many new nursing graduates lack the fundamental knowledge, skills, and affective behaviors necessary to work with culturally diverse populations. To address this, nursing faculty from two schools partnered to strategize, design, implement, and evaluate a community health assessment project using the instructional method of videoconferencing. The goal was to maximize students' exposure to and engagement with geographically and demographically dissimilar populations. Through videoconferencing, students from two distant schools were able to exchange and actively discuss their community health assessments. Videoconferencing gave students the opportunity to exchange community assessments and perceptions augmented by technology and guided through faculty networking. This article describes a piloted teaching strategy by which students performed and exchanged their community health assessments from diverse populations to enhance their cultural awareness.