Inventory of Evidence-Based Practices (EBPs) for Healthy Start Programs
Evidence-based practices include actions, activities, strategies, or approaches that improve the health of women, before, during, and after pregnancy in order to improve birth outcomes and give infants up to age two years a healthy start. Also included in the collection are informational materials and tools that make it easier to implement evidence-based practices. To search by title, use the main search box located at the top of this page.
Often referred to as “The Fourth Trimester,” the weeks after birth are a critical time for a woman and her infant, setting the stage for long-term health and well-being. This comprehensive toolkit, with an introduction by Dr. Haywood Brown, includes extensive resources on the key components of postpartum care, including support for new mothers, reproductive life planning, infant care, counseling for substance use, long-term weight management, and many more pertinent topics. It also features a sample postpartum checklist for women to complete.
Topics:
Alcohol/Drug Services Breastfeeding Chronic Disease Depression Healthy Weight Immunization Intimate Partner Violence Reproductive Life Planning/Family Planning Safe Sleep Tobacco Cessation
Approaches:
Improve Women's Health Promote Quality Strengthen Family Resilience
Benchmarks:
Initiating Breastfeeding Intimate Partner Violence Perinatal Depression Follow Up Perinatal Depression Screening Postpartum Visit Reproductive Life Plan Safe Sleep Smoking Abstinence Sustaining Breastfeeding
Evidence Rating:
III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.
Annual well-woman visits provide an excellent opportunity for health maintenance and preventive care, including preconception and interconception counseling. Under the Affordable Care Act of 2010, Medicaid and most private insurance plans cover these visits without copay. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists released these guidelines on recommended components of the annual visit based on previous evidence-based guidelines, current expert opinion, and the recommendations of a multidisciplinary task force. Recommendations on screening, laboratory tests, evaluation and counseling, and immunizations are organized into the age ranges 13-18, 19-45, 46-64, and >64.
Topics:
Alcohol/Drug Services Chronic Disease Depression Healthy Weight Immunization Intimate Partner Violence Nutrition Reproductive Life Planning/Family Planning Risk Assessment STDs including HIV Tobacco Cessation
Approaches:
Improve Women's Health
Benchmarks:
Well Woman Visits
Evidence Rating:
III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.
Prenatal Plus is a program that provides care coordination, nutrition and mental health counseling to Medicaid-eligible pregnant women in Colorado who are at a high risk for delivering low birth weight infants. The program uses the client-centered counseling approach with all participants to address a variety of issues that have been shown to have a negative impact on birth outcomes. The key health areas targeted by this program are healthy weight, smoking cessation and depression. The program has been demonstrated to decrease the rate of low-birth weight infants and resolve the risks putting women at risk of delivering low-birth weight infants.
Topics:
Case Management/Care Coordination Depression Healthy Weight Tobacco Cessation
Approaches:
Strengthen Family Resilience
Benchmarks:
Father/Partner Prenatal Involvement Perinatal Depression Follow Up Perinatal Depression Screening
Evidence Rating:
II. Promising practices—Innovative practices employed in the field, based on state-of-science knowledge about what works to improve outcomes, and gathering evidence of effectiveness.
Intervention program that provides comprehensive care to low-income pregnant and postpartum women with high BMI and depressive symptoms. Links patients to clinical care coordinators trained in motivational interviewing who promotes participation in a portfolio of mental and physical wellness activities.
Topics:
Depression Healthy Weight
Approaches:
Improve Women's Health Strengthen Family Resilience
Benchmarks:
Perinatal Depression Follow Up Well Woman Visits
Evidence Rating:
II. Promising practices—Innovative practices employed in the field, based on state-of-science knowledge about what works to improve outcomes, and gathering evidence of effectiveness.
Men’s portion of the CDC’s information on preconception health and health care. Includes information on making a reproductive life plan for men, preventing and treating sexually transmitted diseases, tobacco and drug cessation, infertility, maintaining a healthy weight, learning about family history, getting help for violence, getting mentally healthy, and supporting one’s partner.
Topics:
Alcohol/Drug Services Chronic Disease Depression Healthy Weight Intimate Partner Violence Partner Involvement Reproductive Life Planning/Family Planning STDs including HIV Tobacco Cessation
Approaches:
Improve Women's Health Strengthen Family Resilience
Benchmarks:
Intimate Partner Violence Reproductive Life Plan
Evidence Rating:
III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.
Health behavior intervention that aims to improve women’s preconception and interconception health. Developed for low-income rural communities in Central Pennsylvania. Enrolls non-pregnant women capable of becoming pregnant in the future. Provides education about health-related factors associated with poor pregnancy outcomes; facilitates increased physical activity and improved nutrition; and encourages self-efficacy for personal healthcare. Enrollees attend six 2 hour group sessions over 12 weeks. Intervention was found to have improved attitudes and behaviors related to nutrition, folic acid supplementation, physical activity, and stress management, increased internal control of birth outcomes, lowered weight and BMI, and lowered pregnancy weight gain.
Topics:
Healthy Weight Nutrition
Approaches:
Improve Women's Health
Benchmarks:
Reproductive Life Plan Well Woman Visits
Evidence Rating:
II. Promising practices—Innovative practices employed in the field, based on state-of-science knowledge about what works to improve outcomes, and gathering evidence of effectiveness.