This month Pro-Change launched a randomized clinical trial of Healthy Pregnancy: Step by Step at six federally qualified health center sites offering prenatal care to underserved women in Rhode Island, New York, and Connecticut. With funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Pro-Change developed a multiple behavior computer tailored intervention (CTI) offering individualized guidance based on stage of readiness for smoking cessation and maintenance, stress management, and healthy eating. A color-printed feedback report and a printed multiple behavior change manual serve as adjuncts to the CTI. A total of 368 women are expected to participate in the study, and all components of the intervention are offered in English and Spanish. With this project, Pro-Change has expanded its core web application capabilities by including extensive interactivity within the tailored feedback screens of the CTI, adding multiple languages, and the optimizing of the entire intervention for iPad delivery.
During the next six months, study participants will be recruited from the three prenatal care sites of the Community Health Center, Inc. of Connecticut (Meriden, Middletown, and Clinton), the two sites of Open Door Family Medical Centers in Ossining and Port Chester, NY, and the Woonsocket, RI site of Thundermist Health Center. Women will be invited to participate in the program three times during their pregnancy. At each session, women in the treatment group will receive stage-matched and tailored guidance on two behavioral risks with attention placed on making and sustaining behavioral changes into the postpartum period. Follow-up assessments will be completed at one and four months post childbirth.
At all health center sites women will interact with the program on iPads in a self-directed manner. Usability testing with the target population demonstrated strong feasibility and enthusiasm for using iPads. Pamela Ferrari, RN, Director of Performance Improvement at Open Door commented, “The flexible and mobile delivery platform of iPads will enable us to test this program and integrate it into our standard prenatal care more easily. Women can carry the iPad with them through our prenatal care flow and engage in science-based behavioral health counseling while they wait to see their provider. This is a welcomed enhancement that we are pleased to offer our English and Spanish speaking prenatal patients.”
Outcomes of the trial are anticipated to be available early in 2013.
About Open Door
Founded in 1972 in the basement of the First Baptist Church in Ossining, NY, Open Door was first operated as a free clinic, staffed by nearly 100 local volunteers. Today Open Door is a nationally recognized, federally qualified community health center serving as the health care home to more than 40,000 individuals in Westchester. Open Door’s facilities are located in designated underserved communities, serving those who are hardest to reach. Patients make over 170,000 visits annually to its sites in Ossining, Port Chester, Mt. Kisco, Sleepy Hollow, and its five school-based health centers in Port Chester. Accredited by The Joint Commission, Open Door ensures quality through its board-certified and board-eligible physicians, staff, exceptional quality improvement program, and a robust electronic medical record platform. For more information about Open Door, please visit www.opendoormedical.org.
About Thundermist
Thundermist Health Center is a private, nonprofit community health center serving three communities in Rhode Island and serving 28,000 patients statewide. It is the second largest community health center in Rhode Island and has been part of the federal community health center program for over two decades. Thundermist continually strives for continuous quality improvement and innovation and is a proven leader in community health in Rhode Island. For over forty years, Thundermist has been fulfilling its mission to provide affordable, culturally competent, comprehensive primary care when and where it is needed most, with dignity and respect. For more information about Thundermist Health Center, please visit www.thundermisthealth.org.
About Community Health Center, Inc.
Community Health Center (CHC) is a statewide, independent private nonprofit organization. CHC provides high-quality medical, dental and behavioral health services to over 130,000 active patients living in nearly every Connecticut city and town. For more information about Community Health Center, Inc., please visit chc1.com.