Women's priorities for lay health home visitors: implications for eliminating health disparities among underserved women

While racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic health disparities in maternal and child health persist among women, few studies describe experiences of low-income women during pregnancy. We undertook a qualitative study of women's self-reported experiences with home visitors to gain understanding of priorities for participation and service delivery. Lay health home visitors provided satisfactory services and maintained close relationships with their clients. The mother-to-mother relationship is critical in facilitating continued participation in and ensuring positive health and social outcomes from lay health home visitation services. Many women lacked sufficient social support during their pregnancy and received this from the health visitor. Appropriate integration of lay health visitors with traditional prenatal care may alleviate many of the deleterious stressors that low-income women experience and may ultimately impact racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in maternal and child health.