title: Healthy behaviors and sources of health information among low-income pregnant women.
abstract: This article addresses responses from two open-ended questions, describing the healthy behaviors and sources of health information in 150 low-income pregnant women. Data for this exploratory study were collected as part of a larger descriptive correlational study. Qualitative content analysis was used in the analysis. One hundred fifty English-speaking pregnant women aged 18 and over were interviewed at a public prenatal clinic in the Southeastern United States at their first prenatal visit. Health behaviors were placed into seven mutually exclusive categories: food-related behaviors, substance-related behavior, exercise/rest/activity, self-awareness/appearance, learning, focus on baby, and no specific behaviors. Sources of information questions were placed into seven mutually exclusive categories: family, health personnel, reading, hearing, other people, self-intuitive, and no response. Low-income pregnant women are aware of healthy behaviors and report practicing them during their pregnancies. Because family members are a common source of information for health practices, they should be included in health education efforts.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 27402-6170, USA. lplewall@uncg.edu
authors.forename: Lynne Porter
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Lewallen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology; D001364:Awareness; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D015444:Exercise; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination; D004366:Nonprescription Drugs; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011203:Poverty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011637:Public Health Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D015144:Southeastern United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D004366:Nonprescription Drugs