Preconception Care

Improving the delivery and uptake of preconception care

What is the evidence-practice gap?

Periconceptional folate supplementation is known to reduce the incidence of neural tube defects by approximately two thirds. Despite this the proportion of women taking periconceptional folic acid supplements remains low at approximately 28-30%.

What is our aim?

Associate Professor Danielle Mazza, of the School of Primary Health Care at Monash University is currently undertaking research with general practitioners (GPs) and women to improve the delivery and uptake of preconception care, including the increase of folate supplementation.

The research aims to:

Determine the barriers and enablers to the delivery and uptake of preconception care in the general practice setting as perceived by GPs and women
Design an intervention to address the identified barriers and enablers
Implement the intervention in the general practice setting
Evaluate the intervention

How will we improve the delivery and uptake of preconception care?

Patient based interventions

We have:

Developed a waiting room poster (pdf) reminding women of the need to attend for preconception care before they get pregnant.
Made available a patient information sheet (pdf) for GPs to print off and give to patients during consultations

GP interventions

We have:

Developed a preconception care checklist which reflects current guidelines to assist GPs to deliver preconception care
Made available information for health professionals to assist them in improving their knowledge concerning preconception care issues

Who is funding this work?

This research is being undertaken with the support of a National Institute of Clinical Studies (NICS) - HCF Health and Medical Research Foundation Fellowship and the Shepherd Foundation.

NICS is an institute of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), Australia's peak body for supporting health and medical research.

HCF Health and Medical Research Foundation is a charitable trust established by the Hospitals Contribution Fund (HCF) to encourage medical research of all kinds and research and enquiry into the provision, administration and delivery of health services in Australia.