Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The Lundquist Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA, USA.
California Preterm Birth Initiative, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Womens Health (Lond). 2023 Jan-Dec;19:17455057231156792. doi: 10.1177/17455057231156792.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with increased social and economic stressors among pregnant individuals. While community and social services have been available to mitigate stressors in pregnancy (e.g. food insecurity and financial hardship) and reduce the risk of adverse maternal outcomes, it is unclear how the pandemic impacted access to these resources, particularly in communities of color with lower incomes.
To examine the experiences accessing community and social service resources during the COVID-19 pandemic among pregnant people of color with low incomes.
Participants for this COVID-related qualitative study were recruited from two sources-a prospective comparative effectiveness study of two models of enhanced prenatal care and the California Black Infant Health Program between August and November of 2020.
We conducted 62 interviews with Medicaid-eligible participants in California's Central Valley. During their interviews, study participants were asked to share their pregnancy-related experiences, including how they felt the pandemic had affected those experiences.
We identified two broad themes: challenges with accessing community and social service resources during the pandemic and opportunities for improving access to these resources. Sub-themes related to challenges experienced included difficulty with remote access, convoluted enrollment processes for community and social services, and problems specific to accessing COVID-19 resources (e.g. testing). Sub-themes related to opportunities to improve access included leveraging instrumental support from perinatal staff and informational (e.g. practical) support from other community programs and pregnant peers. Participant recommendations included leveraging opportunities to improve client experiences through increased transparency and better patient-provider communication.
This study highlights some important trends that emerged with the rollout of remote service delivery for social services among a vulnerable population. Many participants were able to leverage support through other programs and perinatal staff. These individuals identified additional opportunities to improve client experiences that can inform the future implementation of support services for pregnant people.
COVID-19 大流行给孕妇带来了更多的社会和经济压力。虽然社区和社会服务机构提供了缓解怀孕压力（例如，食物不安全和经济困难）和降低不良母婴结局风险的资源，但目前尚不清楚大流行如何影响这些资源的获取，特别是在收入较低的有色人种社区。
研究在 COVID-19 大流行期间，收入较低的有色人种孕妇获取社区和社会服务资源的情况。
本项 COVID 相关的定性研究参与者来自两个来源，一是 2020 年 8 月至 11 月期间进行的两种强化产前护理模式的前瞻性比较效果研究，二是加利福尼亚州黑人生育健康计划。
我们对加利福尼亚州中央谷符合医疗补助条件的 62 名参与者进行了采访。在采访中，研究参与者被要求分享他们与怀孕相关的经历，包括他们认为大流行如何影响这些经历。
我们确定了两个广泛的主题：大流行期间获取社区和社会服务资源的挑战和改善这些资源获取的机会。与挑战相关的子主题包括远程访问困难、社区和社会服务的入组程序复杂以及特定于获取 COVID-19 资源的问题（例如，测试）。与机会相关的子主题包括利用围产期工作人员的工具支持以及其他社区计划和怀孕同行的信息（例如，实践）支持。参与者的建议包括通过提高透明度和改善医患沟通来利用机会改善客户体验。
本研究强调了在为弱势群体推出远程社会服务交付时出现的一些重要趋势。许多参与者能够通过其他计划和围产期工作人员获得支持。这些人确定了可以改善客户体验的额外机会，这可以为未来为孕妇提供支持服务提供信息。
