Date of Award

2022

Document Type

Doctoral Research Paper

Degree Name

Psy.D.

Organizational Unit

Graduate School of Professional Psychology

First Advisor

Tracy Moran Vozar

Second Advisor

Galena Rhoades

Third Advisor

Kimberly Gorgens

Keywords

Pregnancy, Preterm birth, Relationship education program, Health disparities, MotherWise, Denver health, Pregnant women, Race

Abstract

Health disparities amongst pregnant individuals of color have long been documented and yet, they persist. While there is growing recognition, the search continues for solutions to close the health disparity gap between White women and women of color. This research is a follow-up to a 2022 study exploring the impact of the MotherWise program on birth outcomes. MotherWise provides an individual-oriented relationship education program and case management service for minority and low-income pregnant women in Colorado. This research further explores a positive trend of the program's impact on preterm birth rates by examining differential effects of participation by race. In this study, which reviewed previously collected data, it was hypothesized that (1) participation in MotherWise would reduce health disparities, such that Black mothers who participated in the program were not at higher risk for adverse birth outcomes than White women in the control and (2) participation in MotherWise would reduce health disparities such that Latinx mothers who participated in the program were not at higher risk for adverse birth outcomes than White women in the control. Overall, there were high levels of preterm birth for Non-Hispanic/Latinx and Non-African American/Black mothers in this study that were higher than those reported in the literature. When looking at rates of preterm birth for Hispanic/Latinx women who participated in the MotherWise program (intervention group) and those in the control, identifying as Hispanic/Latinx or not was a significant moderator and participating in the MotherWise program resulted in a statistically significant reduction in preterm birth from 24.32% to 2.13% (p = .002). When looking at rates of preterm birth for African American/Black women who participated in the MotherWise program (intervention group) and those in the control, there was not a statistically significant interaction effect and furthermore, there was not a statistically significant mean difference in preterm birth rates; therefore, identifying as Black/African American was not a significant moderator. Additionally, limitations were addressed and future directions explored.

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Extent

41 pgs

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