Concept Analysis: Barriers to Consistent Prenatal Care by Women Residing in Rural Areas

Answer

• Concept Analysis: Barriers to Consistent Prenatal Care by Women Residing in Rural Areas

  Antecedents

  1. Poor transportation is an event which makes accessing prenatal care almost impossible for women residing in rural areas.
  2. Lack of education about the benefits of prenatal care visits among the women residing in rural areas is considered as a factor which results to the lack of consistency in the prenatal care visits.
  3. The feeling of stigma and shame related with the teenage women’s pregnancy is also a factor which prevents women living in the rural destinations from accessing prenatal care consistently.
  4. Poor means of transportation reflected by the inaccessible roads common within the rural areas is a factor which inhibits pregnant women in the region from accessing care.
  5. The high direct cost of prenatal care is also an event which constitutes the situation whereby women find it difficult to access consistent prenatal care

  Consequences

              According to Ntoimo et al. (2019) indicate that the prenatal care conducted routinely has played a vital role in reducing instances of miscarriages, maternal deaths, birth defects, neonatal infections, and birth defects among other preventable infections likely to be recorded during the pregnancy season. Therefore, failing to access this service can result to fundamental health concerns as consequences.

  1. An increased potential of increased cases of maternal complications among women residing in rural destinations is one of the potential consequences of failing to access prenatal care services by women.
  2. Increased cases of maternal deaths
  3. Increased cases of delivering malnourished children who are at a risk of health concern due to their poor immunity and health.
  4. Increased cases of neonatal infections, birth defects and other potential health concerns likely to be experienced by the mother and the child after birth.

  Empirical Referents

              Different measures can be implemented to provide an insight into the seriousness of the case of how pregnant women living in the rural areas find it difficult to access prenatal care services. For instance, the rates at which the roads are inaccessible are considered as a measure which determines the level at which pregnant women in the rural areas access prenatal care services. When the roads are highly accessible, the pregnant women residing in the rural destinations will be able to easily access the prenatal care services. However, in the events when the roads are highly inaccessible, the rates at which the pregnant women residing in the rural destinations access prenatal care services are significantly reduced.

              The rate at which the women living in the rural destinations access education services on the benefits of accessing prenatal care services is considered as an effective measure. Evidently, the women who are better informed have an increased ability of accessing care services when pregnant. On the contrary when pregnant women residing in rural destinations have a better education on the importance of accessing prenatal care services, it is highly evident that the women residing in the rural destinations will highly access the prenatal care services.

              The third measure to be considered includes the associated amounts of direct costs of prenatal care services. Evidently, in the events when the direct costs of prenatal care services are high, the rate at which the pregnant women residing in rural areas access prenatal care services is significantly reduced. On the contrary, in the events when the costs of prenatal care services is significantly high, the pregnant women residing in rural areas choose to access prenatal care services is suppressed (WHO, 2020).

  Consistent with major Policy Document

              Prenatal care policy is one of the common policies which are focused on encouraging women to access quality prenatal care services despite the fact that they are residing in a rural destination. According to Eibner (2020), it is evident that over the past five years, there has been a bipartisan consensus which provides a depiction of the fact that the low birth weight has remained to be a significant concern, especially among women residing in rural destinations. The affordable care act is one of the prominent pieces of legislation which has been implemented within the field of nursing to ensure that all people obtain equitable care services. For instance, the people located within the lower economic bracket are required to access the same level of healthcare services as those considered as economically capable persons.

              Looking at the concept of the prenatal care services as accessed by the women residing in rural areas, it is evident that the situation is directly linked to policy of Affordable Care Act. Notably, the concept provides a depiction that equity is not observed when providing health care services to the members of the population. Notably, different factors act as a hindrance factor preventing women from accessing quality care. Evidently, the pregnant women in the rural areas cannot access regular check-ups offered the midwives or consistent doctor services focused on preventing any potential health problems which a woman is likely to experience during the course of the pregnancy. The barriers experienced by the women in such destination have discouraged the women residing in the rural areas from accessing any form of prenatal care services to prevent cases of maternal complications. As presented by Edward, Senadza and Arthur (2013), the physical accessibility factors are defined by several aspects such as bad roads or lack of affordable means of transportation, which force the women to walk over long distances because they can access the care facilities despite them being pregnant.

              The pregnant women living in the rural destinations are also discouraged from accessing quality care services based on the fact most women find it difficult to physically avail themselves to the facilities offering the care services. Arguably, in the rural areas, the care facilities are mainly located far away from the residential areas which function as a discouraging factor for the women seeking to access the care services being offered for the pregnant women. This factor is directly related to the cases of the direct cost, which increases for the women living in faraway destinations, or those who opt to access the care services offered in private hospitals. The cost challenge is further reinforced by the inability of the women to pay since most of the women residing in the rural areas are from the lower socioeconomic class.

              The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a piece of legislation enacted in 2010. The act has played a significant role in transforming the American health care landscape (Eibner, 2020). The primary goals of the law included reducing the number of uninsured, promote the affordability of coverage, and enhance the rate at which people can access quality care (Eibner, 2020). As a result, the law expanded the eligibility for Medicaid and established new marketplaces where people who did not have employer coverage could directly interact with the insurers and purchase policies (Eibner, 2020). Despite the associated benefits, efforts have been underway to replace the ACA. Therefore, it is evident that the requirements of the Affordable care Act have not been fully implemented in the case of the preventive care concept since the coverage of the preventive services still remains to be a factor of concern.

  Current and Future Applications

              Different factors have been identified in the case of preventive care as related with the pregnant women residing in rural destinations. For instance, it has been derived that cost and physical barriers is the primary factors which discourage women from accessing preventive care in the rural destinations. This has further jeopardized the health of the mother and the child as majorly experienced during the times of delivery. For instance, maternal complications are highly likely of the mother has not effective accessed the care services focused of upholding health. This poses a future implication in the field of nursing. For instance, the need to address the cost and the physical barriers with a primary aim of promoting the equitability of the care services offered even to the women residing in the rural destinations. Moreover, this topic poses a future implication suggesting the need to devise policies that are more efficient which ensures that care services are delivered to the women residing to the women living in such destinations to overcome the challenge of transportation and costs. The outcome is an improved health outcome.