The Quality Of Prenatal Care Experiences Of Women Attending Healthy Baby Clubs

Author : Ranjana Chakrabarti
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (774 download)

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Download or read book Constrained Spaces of Prenatal Care: South Asian Immigrant Women in New York City written by Ranjana Chakrabarti and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abstract The aim of this research is to examine use of prenatal care by South Asian immigrant women in New York City, focusing not only on barriers to care but also women0́9s reliance on multi-scalar, place-based social networks and resources. Recently, public health analysts have raised concern about low utilization of prenatal care by South Asian women who are much less likely than US-born women to receive early and adequate prenatal care. I use a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods to examine spatial variation in use of prenatal care for South Asian women in New York City and to understand experiences of pregnancy care for a specific sub-group of South Asian immigrant women. In the quantitative section, GIS and statistical methods are employed to identify risk factors and areas where use of prenatal care is especially low. The qualitative section comprises in-depth interviews with women from Bangladesh and Bengali women from India to understand their formal as well as informal pregnancy care experiences. I seek to examine the social, cultural and geographical barriers these women face in gaining access to prenatal care and explore how women create and draw upon resources at different geographical scales to maintain health and well-being during pregnancy. Results from the quantitative section show that Bangladeshi and Pakistani women are at higher risk of receiving less than adequate prenatal care especially in specific areas such as in South Central Brooklyn. Education and employment emerges as significant risk factor for Pakistani and Bangladeshi women0́9s low use of prenatal care. Results from the qualitative section highlight South Asian women0́9s situatedness in local and transnational networks and the role of such networks in enabling women to use both formal and informal pregnancy care. Situated within the theoretical framework of a 0́8new0́9 medical geography this research makes several contributions to the emerging body of work untying the linkages between health and place. Home emerged as important as a space for care as well as strenuous labor for pregnant South Asian women. Everyday places such as neighborhood parks, temples emerged as important spaces with physical as well as social therapeutic qualities. 0́8Social therapeutic networks0́9, operating at multiple geographical scales were important in shaping women0́9s place-based experiences of pregnancy care. As these networks unfolded, places were recreated and/or transformed making them therapeutic and healthy places. Therapeutic qualities of informal conversations and of sights and sounds surfaced in women0́9s narratives, further enriching the notion of therapeutic landscapes. Identifications of everyday locales as therapeutic as well as use of social therapeutic networks differed based on differences in class, religion and country of origin. The research has several policy implications. Issues raised by the women, such as long waiting times and too many tests, need to be addressed. By highlighting within group diversity amongst South Asian women, this research emphasizes the need to fine-tune prenatal care policies to cater to the needs of diverse sub-groups of women masked under a broad label. By highlighting the importance of place in South Asian women0́9s use of pregnancy care, this research emphasizes the need to focus not only on barriers to care but also on women0́9s reliance on multi-scalar, place-based social networks and resources.