Black Infant Health Program Evaluation

Participant and Staff Perceptions about the Program

Public health recognizes that racism1, ​​as well as social and economic stressors, play a major role in poor birth outcomes—babies born too early and too small—for Black women and birthing people. The California Black Infant Health (BIH) Program is an evidence-informed group model with complementary one-on-one life planning designed to improve birth outcomes in the Black community by enhancing life skills, improving strategies to reduce stress, and building social support. An evaluation of prenatal program implementation and outcomes was conducted for participants enrolled between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2018 across 17 sites in 15 local health jurisdictions throughout California. For additional details about the program, the evaluation and other results please visit: cdph.ca.gov/BIH.

This brief examines the results of surveys administered to gauge participant and staff perceptions of BIH. These survey responses are important because participant experiences provide an understanding of the lived impact of BIH and how it is meeting individuals’ expectations. Analyzing staff satisfaction and engagement is important to understanding staff’s sense of purpose and happiness with their work environment. Feedback from participants and staff can help to identify areas of the program that work well and areas that need improvement, which helps ensure that BIH is meaningful and engaging.

Following participation in the prenatal portion of BIH, 745 participants completed a satisfaction survey reflecting on how the program helped them, what they liked the best about the program and what ways BIH made a difference in their lives. Participants responded to four items on a 4-point scale (Figure 1) and two open ended questions (Figures 2 and 3).​​

Figure 1. BIH participants agreed or strongly agreed that BIH helped them

Build stronger social connections	94.5%
Manage stress	94.5%
Set goals	97.4%
Achieve goals	92.9%

Data Source: Data includes BIH participants that were recruited and enrolled over 3 state fiscal years (July 1, 2015 – June 30, 2018) and completed a satisfaction survey (n=745). Extracted from Efforts to Outcomes (ETO) data system on 12/31/18.

In late 2018, 94 BIH Program staff completed an online survey about 20 aspects of their work environment. Overall, both direct service staff and those in BIH manager roles appeared to have positive perceptions about their work and work environments, with a few noteworthy exceptions related to available resources and work-related stress (Figure 4). Most staff also agreed that the BIH program is effective at meeting intermediate health outcomes (Figure 5) or the short-term milestones that may increase the likelihood of reaching long-term healthy birth outcomes² for Black people.

Figure 4. BIH staff work experiences

Data is the percent of respondents who agreed or strongly agreed with the statement.

Data Source: Data includes BIH staff working for the Program in October and November of 2018 (n=94).

Figure 5. BIH staff perceptions of how effective the program is at meeting intermediate health outcomes

Data is the percentage of respondents who agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “BIH program is effective at…”

 

Summary

References

1. Office of Minority Health and​​ Health Equity (OMHHE). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. April 12, 2021. Accessed May 12, 2021. https://www.cdc.gov/healthequity/racism-disparities/index.html  
2. State Infant Mortality Collaborative: Infant Mortality Toolkit. State Infant Mortality (SIM) Toolkit: A Standardized Approach for Examining Infant Mortality. November 1, 2013. Accessed May 12, 2021. http://www.amchp.org/programsandtopics/data-assessment/ InfantMortalityToolkit/Pages/default.aspx