• Subproject B: Migrant-friendly information in mother and child care •

Mother and child health for migrants and ethnic minorities has been highlighted as an area of particular concern for health policies and programmes, since birth rates in migrant populations are significantly higher and incidence of health problems for mothers and children is also above average.

Improvements in the health of mothers and children require a high level of awareness among the parents-to-be concerning which services are available, what is important in pre- and postnatal care, and which behaviour is relevant for the health of mother and infant. The importance of awareness and the ability to self-management makes the empowerment of clients - by raising their health literacy levels and increasing their ability to act - a key intervention.

Subproject B aimed at empowering women and families in parental care by providing culturally adequate information and training programs. Six hospitals (AT, IT, FI, NL, SP, UK) developed information materials such as brochures and videos as well as training courses that were tailored on the basis of a needs assessment among migrant women about what kind of information they felt they needed concerning pregnancy and early motherhood and about how courses should be designed.

The courses and information materials were developed with regard to four quality dimensions: (1) appropriate access to services, (2) relevant information, (3) culturally sensitive design and format of information, and (4) an empowering and culturally sensitive relationship between providers and clients.

Evaluation showed that women who attended the courses and used the information material were very satisfied in all quality dimensions and felt a remarkable improvement of knowledge. An issue to be worked on further is access: even though courses were free of charge and women were supported by various measures including child care, participation rates were low. One hypothesis was that the influence of the husbands and/or family , who often decide whether such courses are taken or not, might have been the reason for the low participation rates. Further development should take into account the important role of men within mother and child care.

Within the project framework, working tools for the planning, implementation and evaluation of measures were developed. Supporting tools were provided to further guide the design of courses and information material. They are available in the report. Further insights into the issue are given in the evaluation report, fact sheet and pathway, as well as in the presentations related to this subproject.

• General & Evaluation files >>

• Working Tools >>

• Supporting Tools >>

• Email: uschi.trummer@univie.ac.at