The Effects of CenteringPregnancy: A Quasi-Experimental Evaluation

Abstract

Background/Objectives: CenteringPregnancy (CP) is a group prenatal care model that empowers pregnant women through risk assessment, education, and social support. CP participants have more contact time with providers compared to those in traditional prenatal care. Despite contradictory findings in the literature, this study aimed to determine if CP leads to better health outcomes for women and their infants. Methods: A quasi-experimental design was used. Data were collected from hospital birth records of both CP participants and those receiving traditional prenatal care from 2018 to 2020. Various treatment effect models for observational data were used to assess CP’s effectiveness. Results: CP improved women’s access to prenatal care and reduced rates of preterm birth and perinatal death compared to traditional prenatal care. It also resulted in longer gestation periods and better infant birth weight outcomes. However, no significant differences were found in delivery type (vaginal or C-section) or breastfeeding initiation and continuation between the two groups. Conclusions: These findings provide compelling evidence that CenteringPregnancy can lead to significantly improved maternal and infant health outcomes by demonstrating its effectiveness in a real-world clinical setting.