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Communicating Public Health Preparedness Information to Pregnant and Postpartum Women: An Assessment of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web Pages

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 April 2015

Brianna McDonough ,
Elizabeth Felter ,
Amia Downes  and
Jeanette Trauth
Brianna McDonough
Affiliation:
Behavioral & Community Health Sciences, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Elizabeth Felter
Affiliation:
Behavioral & Community Health Sciences, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Amia Downes
Affiliation:
Behavioral & Community Health Sciences, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Jeanette Trauth*
Affiliation:
Behavioral & Community Health Sciences, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Jeanette Trauth, 217 Parran Hall, 130 De Soto Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15261 (e-mail: trauth@pitt.edu).
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Abstract

Pregnant and postpartum women have special needs during public health emergencies but often have inadequate levels of disaster preparedness. Thus, improving maternal emergency preparedness is a public health priority. More research is needed to identify the strengths and weaknesses of various approaches to how preparedness information is communicated to these women. A sample of web pages from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention intended to address the preparedness needs of pregnant and postpartum populations was examined for suitability for this audience. Five of the 7 web pages examined were considered adequate. One web page was considered not suitable and one the raters split between not suitable and adequate. None of the resources examined were considered superior. If these resources are considered some of the best available to pregnant and postpartum women, more work is needed to improve the suitability of educational resources, especially for audiences with low literacy and low incomes. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2015;9:134-137)

Keywords

emergency preparednesshealth communicationvulnerable populations
Type
Brief Reports
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , April 2015 , pp. 134 - 137
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2015 

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