title: Change in women's knowledge of general and personal preconception health risks following targeted brief counseling in publicly funded primary care settings.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore knowledge of general and personal preconception health risks among women in publicly funded clinics and whether brief counseling can improve knowledge.
  
  
  METHODS
  Interventional cohort study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Five publicly funded primary care clinics.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two cohorts of low-income, nonpregnant African-American and Hispanic women of reproductive age (300 in each cohort).
  
  
  METHODS
  Targeted brief counseling based upon risks identified via preconception health risk assessment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Correct responses on test of women's knowledge of general and personal preconception health risks pre-encounter vs. 3 to 6 months post-encounter.
  
  
  METHODS
  McNemar's test to compare proportion of women in each cohort who correctly answer questions of preconception health knowledge pre-encounter vs. 3 to 6 months post-encounter.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Women in the intervention cohort experienced a significant increase in knowledge related to preconception health from baseline to 3 to 6 months post-encounter, including recognition of the importance of folic acid supplementation, seeking medical care for chronic conditions, and review of medication in the preconception period that was not observed for the comparison cohort. Among women with chronic medical conditions, those in the intervention cohort significantly increased their knowledge that the condition could lead to problems in pregnancy (+43%) relative to the lesser improvement in knowledge observed for those in the comparison cohort (+4%) (p < .05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Women's knowledge of general and personal preconception health risks improved following screening and brief counseling in publicly funded primary care clinics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family & Preventive Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, 1256 Briarcliff Road, Atlanta, GA30322, USA. amlang@emory.edu
authors.forename: Anne L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Dunlop
authors.forename: Kristi M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Logue
authors.forename: Castalia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Thorne
authors.forename: Hannah J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Badal
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003376:Counseling; D005260:Female; D005845:Georgia; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D011203:Poverty; D016742:Preconception Care; D011320:Primary Health Care; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult