Rapport final
Psychosocial support during pregnancy in vulnerable women. Randomised controlled trial measuring the effects on the routine antenatal care trajectory and perceived pscyhosocial stress - Beeckman Katrien
Antenatal care is important in the prevention of worse pregnancy outcome on the short and long term. Psychosocial vulnerable women are at higher risk of worse outcome and often have suboptimal care trajectories. Therefore an additional support program was set up in the UZ Brussel. All pregnant women attending antenatal care were screened for vulnerability, vulnerable women were offered to a care program with a midwife and four additional visits with a health worker of Child&Family and a home visit. In these visits, attention is paid to the baby, the pregnancy, parenthood and the context. Women that choose to participate in this follow-up were asked to fill out questionnaires on psychosocial wellbeing and satisfaction with care at three times in pregnancy, information on health care use was extracted from the medical files. From all 12 751 women that delivered in our hospital between April 2015 and August 2020, the score was filled out in 3543 cases from which 1127 women were screened as vulnerable. 560 women were included in the care program, from them 154 took part in the study. The additional care program did not have an effect on feelings of depression nor the expansion of the social support network. Vulnerable women in the care program were significantly more satisfied with the care received compared those not in the program (p=0.009). Furthermore vulnerable women in the care program had significantly more appropriate care trajectories (<0.001). An augmented screening would increase the important number of women that can benefit from this program.