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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Maternal health and prenatal care

Voices of Experience: Lay Perspectives on Severe Maternal Morbidity in Appalachia
Highlights the perspectives of 10 rural Appalachian women interviewed about their experiences with severe maternal morbidity, social determinants of health, the healthcare system, and access to quality healthcare. Offers potential interventions based on interview themes.
Author(s): Anna Hansen, Cassidy Carter, Nancy Schoenberg, Carrie Oser
Citation: SSM - Qualitative Research in Health, 4, 100410
Date: 06/2024
Type: Document
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HRSA Rural Maternal Health Initiatives
Webinar recording, fifth and final in a series, discusses topics pertaining to rural maternal health featured in previous webinars in the series, including achieving the Birthing-Friendly Hospital Designation. Features presentations from representatives of the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP), HRSA's Enhancing Maternal Health Initiative, the National Governors Association, and Stratis Health.
Additional links: Audio Recording, Webinar Slides
Date: 05/2024
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Health of Women of U3 Populations Data Book 2024
Reports on the health of women in understudied, underrepresented, and underreported (U3) populations. Discusses social determinants of health, mortality, various health conditions, mental health, substance use, violence, and more. Discusses rural throughout including a review of rural data sources in Chapter 3.
Date: 05/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Institutes of Health
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Prepregnancy Health Care Engagement Among American Indian and Alaska Native People Before and After the Affordable Care Act
Examines the impact of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on healthcare engagement and disparities in American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) populations as compared to White populations. Utilizes 2009-2015 Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System data to examine Medicaid coverage, healthcare interaction and screening, family history discussions, prenatal vitamin use, and teeth cleaning in rural versus urban populations, before and after ACA implementation.
Author(s): Danielle R. Gartner, Katlyn Hettinger, Heather Howard-Bobiwash, Claire E. Margerison
Citation: Health Equity, 8(1)
Date: 05/2024
Type: Document
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Evaluation of the Maternal Opioid Misuse (MOM) Model: Third Annual Report (Implementation Year 2)
Provides an overview of the Maternal Opioid Misuse Model, which provides evidence-based integrated care and care coordination for pregnant and postpartum Medicaid beneficiaries with opioid use disorder (OUD). Describes activities MOM Model awardees undertook during the MOM Model's second implementation year, July 1, 2022–June 30, 2023. Discusses barriers pregnant and postpartum people with OUD face in accessing high-quality, continuous care, specifically in rural areas.
Additional links: Findings at a Glance
Date: 05/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Insight Policy Research
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The Implications of Using Maternity Care Deserts to Measure Progress in Access to Obstetric Care: A Mixed-Integer Optimization Analysis
Compares geographic access to critical care obstetric (CCO) services in Georgia via a county-level maternal care desert model versus a model of census blocks further than 50 miles from CCO services. Uses each model to estimate how expansion of facilities would affect access to care, and also to estimate race and ethnicity, insurance status, age, and poverty rate of reproductive-aged women with limited access to care using 2017 American Community Survey data.
Author(s): Meghan E. Meredith, Lauren N. Steimle, Stephanie M. Radke
Citation: BMC Health Services Research, 24, 682
Date: 05/2024
Type: Document
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Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children Nutrition Assessment and Tailoring Study (WIC NATS)
Provides an overview of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and how local WIC agencies and clinic sites assess their breastfeeding and nutrition services to improve participant retention and service delivery. Includes two reports: a pre-pandemic nutrition assessment report at the state and local levels and a remote versus in-person report focused on assessment processes. Includes data from state agencies as well as 369 local WIC agencies, with differences between rural versus urban agencies discussed.
Additional links: Final Report Part 1, Final Report Part 2, Summary
Author(s): M. Gabay, A.A. Gola, M. Gearing, et al.
Date: 05/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: USDA Food and Nutrition Service
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Using mHealth to Reduce Disparities in Black Maternal Health: Perspectives from Black Rural Postpartum Mothers
Provides an overview of factors impacting Black maternal health in rural Georgia. Describes research regarding mobile health (mHealth) as a tool for advancing sexual and reproductive health outcomes. Summarizes findings from group interviews with 14 women and identifies themes related to facilitators and barriers to postpartum transitional care for rural Black women.
Author(s): Natalie Hernandez-Green, Morgan V. Davis, Oluyemi Farinu, et al.
Citation: Women's Health, 20
Date: 05/2024
Type: Document
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A Picture of the Loss of Rural Obstetrical Service in Alabama 1980 to 2024
County-level maps showing counties with hospitals offering obstetrical service in 1980 and those offering service as of May 2024.
Date: 05/2024
Type: Map/Mapping System
Sponsoring organization: Alabama Office of Primary Care and Rural Health
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Proximity to Hospital-Based Obstetric Care in a Maternity Desert in the Deep South
Examines access to hospital facilities with maternity services in a rural Alabama county by measuring driving distance from maternal residence to birth hospital. Discusses the impact of maternity care deserts on rural residents.
Author(s): Jenna James, Steven R. Schultze, Alyssa Lee, Allen Perkins, Casey L. Daniel
Citation: American Journal of Public Health, 114(S4), S289-S336
Date: 05/2024
Type: Document
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