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Healthy Start: Description of a Safety Net for Perinatal Support During Disaster Recovery

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An Erratum to this article was published on 01 October 2015

Abstract

Publicly funded programs and safety net organizations have key roles during post disaster recovery to care for vulnerable populations, including pregnant women with low resources. The objective of this study was to compare the health of prenatal women who accessed the New Orleans Healthy Start program to those women who only used traditional prenatal care (PNC) during long-term recovery from the Hurricane Katrina disaster. During 2010–2012, this descriptive, cross-sectional study recruited 402 prenatal women (24–40 weeks) from prenatal clinics and classes. All women were enrolled in PNC, with 282 experiencing only traditional PNC, while 120 women added Healthy Start participation to their usual PNC. Measures were obtained to determine, past hurricane experience, hurricane recovery, perceptions of prenatal care, mental health, and birth outcomes. Women accessing Healthy Start-New Orleans were more socially “at risk” (younger, lower income, not living with a partner, African American), lived through more hurricane trauma, and had a higher incidence of depression (40 %) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (15 %) than women in traditional PNC (29 % depression; 6.1 % PTSD). Women using Healthy Start reported more mental health counseling and prenatal education than did women in only traditional PNC. Birth outcomes were similar in the two groups. The Healthy Start participants with less resources and more mental health difficulties after disaster, represented a more vulnerable population in need of additional support. This study underscores the necessity for community and governmental programs to develop disaster response plans that address needs of vulnerable populations during prolonged recovery.

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Acknowledgment

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Nursing Research (Models of Prenatal Care and Perinatal Health Indicators in Disaster Recovery Area 5R03NR012052-02)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Nursing, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, 1900 Gravier St., New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA

    Gloria Giarratano

  2. Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA

    Emily W. Harville & Veronica Barcelona de Mendoza

  3. Loyola University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, USA

    Jane Savage

  4. City of New Orleans Health Department, New Orleans, LA, USA

    Charlotte M. Parent

  5. Healthy Start New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, USA

    Charlotte M. Parent

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  1. Gloria Giarratano
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  2. Emily W. Harville
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  3. Veronica Barcelona de Mendoza
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  4. Jane Savage
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  5. Charlotte M. Parent
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Correspondence to Gloria Giarratano.

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Giarratano, G., Harville, E.W., de Mendoza, V.B. et al. Healthy Start: Description of a Safety Net for Perinatal Support During Disaster Recovery. Matern Child Health J 19, 819–827 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-014-1579-8

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