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Maternity Care Preferences for Future Pregnancies Among United States Childbearers: The Impacts of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted maternity care decisions, including plans to change providers or delivery location due to pandemic-related restrictions and fears. A relatively unexplored question, however, is how the pandemic may shape future maternity care preferences post-pandemic. Here, we use...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Gildner, Theresa E., Thayer, Zaneta M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8022446/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33869560
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2021.611407
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author Gildner, Theresa E.
Thayer, Zaneta M.
author_facet Gildner, Theresa E.
Thayer, Zaneta M.
author_sort Gildner, Theresa E.
collection PubMed
description The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted maternity care decisions, including plans to change providers or delivery location due to pandemic-related restrictions and fears. A relatively unexplored question, however, is how the pandemic may shape future maternity care preferences post-pandemic. Here, we use data collected from an online convenience survey of 980 women living in the United States to evaluate how and why the pandemic has affected women’s future care preferences. We hypothesize that while the majority of women will express a continued interest in hospital birth and OB/GYN care due to perceived safety of medicalized birth, a subset of women will express a new interest in out-of-hospital or “community” care in future pregnancies. However, factors such as local provider and facility availability, insurance coverage, and out-of-pocket cost could limit access to such future preferred care options. Among our predominately white, educated, and high-income sample, a total of 58 participants (5.9% of the sample) reported a novel preference for community care during future pregnancies. While the pandemic prompted the exploration of non-hospital options, the reasons women preferred community care were mostly consistent with factors described in pre-pandemic studies, (e.g. a preference for a natural birth model and a desire for more person-centered care). However, a relatively high percentage (34.5%) of participants with novel preference for community care indicated that they expected limitations in their ability to access these services. These findings highlight how the pandemic has potentially influenced maternity care preferences, with implications for how providers and policy makers should anticipate and respond to future care needs.
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spelling pubmed-80224462021-04-15 Maternity Care Preferences for Future Pregnancies Among United States Childbearers: The Impacts of COVID-19 Gildner, Theresa E. Thayer, Zaneta M. Front Sociol Sociology The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted maternity care decisions, including plans to change providers or delivery location due to pandemic-related restrictions and fears. A relatively unexplored question, however, is how the pandemic may shape future maternity care preferences post-pandemic. Here, we use data collected from an online convenience survey of 980 women living in the United States to evaluate how and why the pandemic has affected women’s future care preferences. We hypothesize that while the majority of women will express a continued interest in hospital birth and OB/GYN care due to perceived safety of medicalized birth, a subset of women will express a new interest in out-of-hospital or “community” care in future pregnancies. However, factors such as local provider and facility availability, insurance coverage, and out-of-pocket cost could limit access to such future preferred care options. Among our predominately white, educated, and high-income sample, a total of 58 participants (5.9% of the sample) reported a novel preference for community care during future pregnancies. While the pandemic prompted the exploration of non-hospital options, the reasons women preferred community care were mostly consistent with factors described in pre-pandemic studies, (e.g. a preference for a natural birth model and a desire for more person-centered care). However, a relatively high percentage (34.5%) of participants with novel preference for community care indicated that they expected limitations in their ability to access these services. These findings highlight how the pandemic has potentially influenced maternity care preferences, with implications for how providers and policy makers should anticipate and respond to future care needs. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-02-18 /pmc/articles/PMC8022446/ /pubmed/33869560 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2021.611407 Text en Copyright © 2021 Gildner and Thayer. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Sociology
Gildner, Theresa E.
Thayer, Zaneta M.
Maternity Care Preferences for Future Pregnancies Among United States Childbearers: The Impacts of COVID-19
title Maternity Care Preferences for Future Pregnancies Among United States Childbearers: The Impacts of COVID-19
title_full Maternity Care Preferences for Future Pregnancies Among United States Childbearers: The Impacts of COVID-19
title_fullStr Maternity Care Preferences for Future Pregnancies Among United States Childbearers: The Impacts of COVID-19
title_full_unstemmed Maternity Care Preferences for Future Pregnancies Among United States Childbearers: The Impacts of COVID-19
title_short Maternity Care Preferences for Future Pregnancies Among United States Childbearers: The Impacts of COVID-19
title_sort maternity care preferences for future pregnancies among united states childbearers: the impacts of covid-19
topic Sociology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8022446/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33869560
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2021.611407
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