The Community Perinatal Care (CPC) Study was initiated by the Conception to Age Five Working Group of The Calgary Children’s Initiative. The working group consisted of representatives from the Calgary Health Region, City of Calgary, child and youth serving community agencies, Calgary Board of Education, Alberta Health and Wellness, University of Calgary, Mount Royal College, and immigrant serving agencies. The Working Group developed the study to address the goal of The Calgary Children’s Initiative that “All babies are born healthy” and to address the recommendations from a Calgary Health Region report which suggested that redesign of prenatal care may lead to improved access to resources.
The CPC study was a prospective randomized controlled trial of pregnant women attending one of three family physician low risk maternity practices within the Calgary Health Region. 2,015 women were randomly assigned to receive one of the following: 1) standard of care at the prenatal clinics (control); 2) standard of care plus consultation with a registered Nurse: or 3) standard of care plus consultation with a Nurse and a Home Visitor. Participants completed a baseline interview, as well as interviews at mid-pregnancy and eight weeks post-partum. The primary results showed that, compared to women in the control group, women who had Nurse or Nurse plus Home Visitor supports were more likely to:
- Use community-based resources (such as prenatal classes, parenting classes, breastfeeding supports, nutritional counseling).
- Report having a health care worker provide information on pregnancy-related topics.
The full results of the CPC study can be found in an earlier report.
Approximately three years post partum, a follow-up telephone questionnaire was conducted with the original CPC cohort. The questionnaire was designed to learn about parenting, child health, development, health care utilization, and well-being. Data from the CPC follow up questionnaire are the subject of this report.
