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Information = equity? How increased access to information can enhance equity and improve health outcomes for pregnant women in Peru

BACKGROUND: The Peruvian health system provides care through numerous, disconnected health establishments and information systems. Our objective was to explore information use and needs of pregnant women to improve quality of care. METHODS: We carried out a mixed methods study in the Lima capital me...

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Autores principales: Pérez-Lu, Jose E, Bayer, Angela M, Iguiñiz-Romero, Ruth
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6294033/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30307537
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdy177
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author Pérez-Lu, Jose E
Bayer, Angela M
Iguiñiz-Romero, Ruth
author_facet Pérez-Lu, Jose E
Bayer, Angela M
Iguiñiz-Romero, Ruth
author_sort Pérez-Lu, Jose E
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The Peruvian health system provides care through numerous, disconnected health establishments and information systems. Our objective was to explore information use and needs of pregnant women to improve quality of care. METHODS: We carried out a mixed methods study in the Lima capital metropolitan area in 15 health centers. This included four focus groups with 34 pregnant women and surveys with 403 pregnant women. RESULTS: Pregnant women’s information needs depend on their age, number of pregnancies and environment. Women relied on their social networks for pregnancy-related advice and valued high-quality, timely and targeted information from the health system. Participants’ information needs include access to reliable information and responses to their questions in a warm, caring and safe environment. These needs can be met during prenatal check-ups and in group settings through informational talks and visual displays in waiting areas, as well as through appropriate digital technologies such as SMS messages and electronic health records. CONCLUSIONS: Pregnant women need individualized health information in an understandable, secure and friendly manner to maximize their understanding of their pregnancy, follow recommendations and optimize health outcomes. Customizing e-Health programs that reach many pregnant women has greater potential for more equitable health outcomes.
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spelling pubmed-62940332018-12-21 Information = equity? How increased access to information can enhance equity and improve health outcomes for pregnant women in Peru Pérez-Lu, Jose E Bayer, Angela M Iguiñiz-Romero, Ruth J Public Health (Oxf) Digital health in LMICs: Unpacking health equity and gender dimensions BACKGROUND: The Peruvian health system provides care through numerous, disconnected health establishments and information systems. Our objective was to explore information use and needs of pregnant women to improve quality of care. METHODS: We carried out a mixed methods study in the Lima capital metropolitan area in 15 health centers. This included four focus groups with 34 pregnant women and surveys with 403 pregnant women. RESULTS: Pregnant women’s information needs depend on their age, number of pregnancies and environment. Women relied on their social networks for pregnancy-related advice and valued high-quality, timely and targeted information from the health system. Participants’ information needs include access to reliable information and responses to their questions in a warm, caring and safe environment. These needs can be met during prenatal check-ups and in group settings through informational talks and visual displays in waiting areas, as well as through appropriate digital technologies such as SMS messages and electronic health records. CONCLUSIONS: Pregnant women need individualized health information in an understandable, secure and friendly manner to maximize their understanding of their pregnancy, follow recommendations and optimize health outcomes. Customizing e-Health programs that reach many pregnant women has greater potential for more equitable health outcomes. Oxford University Press 2018-12 2018-10-11 /pmc/articles/PMC6294033/ /pubmed/30307537 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdy177 Text en © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Digital health in LMICs: Unpacking health equity and gender dimensions
Pérez-Lu, Jose E
Bayer, Angela M
Iguiñiz-Romero, Ruth
Information = equity? How increased access to information can enhance equity and improve health outcomes for pregnant women in Peru
title Information = equity? How increased access to information can enhance equity and improve health outcomes for pregnant women in Peru
title_full Information = equity? How increased access to information can enhance equity and improve health outcomes for pregnant women in Peru
title_fullStr Information = equity? How increased access to information can enhance equity and improve health outcomes for pregnant women in Peru
title_full_unstemmed Information = equity? How increased access to information can enhance equity and improve health outcomes for pregnant women in Peru
title_short Information = equity? How increased access to information can enhance equity and improve health outcomes for pregnant women in Peru
title_sort information = equity? how increased access to information can enhance equity and improve health outcomes for pregnant women in peru
topic Digital health in LMICs: Unpacking health equity and gender dimensions
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6294033/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30307537
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdy177
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