Prenatal Plus Program

The Prenatal Plus Program provides case management, nutrition counseling, and psychosocial services to pregnant women who are at risk of having a baby with low birth weight or other adverse birth outcomes. Prenatal Plus services are voluntary and supplement a woman's regular prenatal care. Women are enrolled in the program based on their score on the Healthy Start Prenatal Risk Screen or through a medical provider referral.

In each session, the Prenatal Plus team works with each client to focus on and prioritize small goals to improve psychosocial and nutritional health status; develop and maintain a healthy lifestyle during pregnancy and beyond; discourage the use of tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs; and appropriately use medical and social services, and other resources. Additionally, The Prenatal Plus Team in Palm Beach County uses the Florida State University Partners for a Healthy Baby curriculum. Partners for a Healthy Baby is a nationally recognized, research-based, practice-informed curriculum used by many home visiting models to meet their program goals such as improving birth outcomes, reducing rates of child abuse, strengthening families, enhancing child health and developmental outcomes, and promoting economic self-sufficiency.

The overall goal of the Prenatal Plus Program, combined with the Partners for a Healthy Baby curriculum, is to improve birth outcomes, decrease rates of child abuse and neglect, and strengthen families.

Reduced low birth weight rate through risk reduction during pregnancy.

In 2007, the low birth weight rate for infants born to Prenatal Plus participants who remained in the program through delivery was 10.7 percent, a 22.5 percent reduction as compared to the expected rate without Prenatal Plus of 13.8 percent. Reductions in the low birth weight rate were related to the changes in health risk behaviors among women enrolled in Prenatal Plus. Among women who were smokers when they began the program, 66% quit before they delivered. Among women who reported psychosocial problems, 80% resolved their risk during pregnancy. For women with inadequate weight gain during pregnancy, 72% gained the recommended amount of weight before delivery. A total of 92% of the women who reported using drugs quit. Ninety-nine percent of women who reported alcohol use abstained during pregnancy.