Model for Group Prenatal Care Bolsters Patient Satisfaction, Support and Trust, Researchers Find

CenteringPregnancy is a prenatal care model combining education and individual health assessments in group settings for women at similar stages of pregnancy. A new evaluation by the Rutgers School of Public Health demonstrates that Centering fosters important social ties among expectant parents and provides opportunities for developing greater trust between health care providers and patients.

"I think for me being that first-time mom, I had a lot of - could I say misconceptions? - and I had this anxiety, fear," one participant said. "I already had two miscarriages so, it's been a journey. But being in CenteringPregnancy,I have this peace of mind…"

As part of efforts to reduce maternal health inequities in New Jersey with a focus on eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in outcomes, the Burke Foundation is making strategic investments to expand CenteringPregnancy throughout the state.

A private grantmaking organization based in Princeton, the Burke Foundation provided support to the Rutgers School of Public Health to design and implement a comprehensive evaluation of CenteringPregnancy in New Jersey. The evaluation included observations of sessions, focus groups and surveys with patients, interviews with providers and other healthcare site stakeholders, and an analysis of emergency medical record data for a sub-set of sites throughout the state.

"The Burke Foundation is proud to partner with the Rutgers School of Public Health on this evaluation of CenteringPregnancy, which is helping to shape the future of prenatal care in New Jersey," said Atiya Weiss, executive director of the Burke Foundation. "The findings confirm that group prenatal care strengthens maternal health and builds trust, support, and confidence for families during one of life's most vulnerable moments-and points to the changes needed to expand equitable access so more families can benefit."

In the Rutgers report, Centering Pregnancy in New Jersey: Results of a Mixed Methods Evaluation, the researchers found that CenteringPregnancy is a highly valued model of care among patients and health care providers as it increases patients' social support and trust in their healthcare providers.

Health care providers and staff involved in CenteringPregnancy reported experiencing higher job satisfaction and reduced burnout as a result of participating in this model of care. An examination of emergency medical record data from a subset of evaluation sites showed higher rates of breastfeeding and postpartum visits among patients who completed five or more sessions compared to those who completed fewer than five sessions.

Members of the evaluation team, led by Leslie M. Kantor, a professor and chair of the Department of Urban-Global Public Health at the School of Public Health, said their team benefitted from the participation of community researchers - all of whom are Black mothers from New Jersey who have received research training and participated in past research projects.

"Our team of faculty, staff and community researchers had the opportunity to gather data from many perspectives and found overwhelmingly that group prenatal care has benefits for patients as well as for healthcare providers and staff," said Kantor, who also is principal investigator for the evaluation. "We hope that the broad array of patient and provider voices in the report will inspire other sites to launch this model of care and that Centering will become a more widely available option for pregnant women."

According to researchers, while the CenteringPregnancy model is largely regarded with enthusiasm, the evaluation also highlighted areas for improvement and common challenges to scaling the model - including current reimbursement rates, healthcare provider and staff turnover, and space constraints - that stakeholders can work to address.