Beyond Prenatal Care: A Pilot Study on Becoming a Life Course Friendly Agency

Background: Philadelphia’s infant mortality rate far exceeds both state and national infant mortality rates, and disproportionately affects non-Hispanic African American women. While a multitude of complex social and environmental factors are responsible for adverse birth outcomes, the life course perspective seeks to approach these issues prior to a woman becoming pregnant.Objectives: The Maternal, Child, and Family Health (MCFH) Division of the Philadelphia Department of Public Health (PDPH), with the help of the Health Federation of Philadelphia, is seeking to address the issue of high infant mortality rates in Philadelphia through the development of a life course assessment package to be distributed to several maternal and child health agencies in Philadelphia.Methods: The assessment package consisted of an online survey, with background information presented via a video PowerPoint presentation. This package was exclusively online in efforts to obtain maximum feedback per agency.Results: The survey showed little variation among responses from both the Health Federation of Philadelphia and Congreso. This shows that the survey, despite numerous revisions, did not extract the information necessary to help MCFH effectively provide guidance and recommendations for each agency. The PowerPoint video presentation was received favorably, and the idea of an online platform as an information agent remains the primary goal of MCFH.Conclusions: The survey questions and format need to better reflect the needs of both MCFH and the agencies involved. An easily accessible online website, which consists of various modules and videos, must be created to allow agencies to become Life Course certified.%%%%M.P.H., Public Health  – Drexel University, 2012