Developing a child health model : a prospective study of maternal health beliefs and utilization of preventive infant health care services

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among expectant mothers' health beliefs, utilization of preventive health care services, and infant health status. The participants were 75 expectant mothers recruited in their third trimester of pregnancy from public and private health care provider sites. Group 1 mothers had health insurance and received prenatal care through a private obstetric clinic. Group 2 mothers received public aid and obtained prenatal services through their county health department. A Maternal Health Belief Questionnaire (MHBQ) was developed for the purposes of this study. The MHBQ assessed the mother's perceptions about: (a) the perceived vulnerability of her unborn child to health threats experienced in infancy, (b) the perceived severity of each of these health threats, (c) the perceived effectiveness of preventive prenatal and infant health care services, (d) the perceived barriers to her seeking preventive health care for her child, and (e) the perceived locus of control with regard to the health of her unborn child