Prenatal care

Flexible activity

In this activity, expectant mothers and parents are taught about healthy prenatal behaviours. These may include eating right, fetal development, and discouraging risky behaviours such as alcohol use.

How can it be implemented?

This activity is typically conducted through home visits. They should begin as early as possible after finding out the mother is pregnant. The frequency and length of visits will depend on the needs of the family. They may be weekly or monthly. You should use your professional judgement to determine what is most appropriate for your client/s.  

In these visits parents should be educated on: 

• healthy behaviors (e.g., eating nutritious food)
• risky behaviors (e.g., tobacco and alcohol use)
• development of the fetus
• coping with stress
• the importance of complying with prenatal appointments and medical advice.

What should I consider when working with Aboriginal people and communities?

• Parenting education needs to recognise unique kinship ties within Aboriginal communities. Also, the culture of parenting in an Aboriginal family may differ from that of non-Aboriginal families. This is why parenting education needs to be co-designed with Aboriginal and community stakeholders, and recognise the worldviews, practices and priorities of Aboriginal people.
• Adopting a whole of organisation approach to cultural safety requires consideration of the policies and focus of the service, the physical location and environment, management and governance systems, human resources, and organisational processes.  Cultural safety should be embedded into the organisation’s way of working and not be an add-on component of practice.

See the Cultural Safety and Wellbeing Evidence Review for more information.

Who is the target group?

This flexible activity has been implemented with a number of different target groups. Key characteristics include:

• Families at risk for child maltreatment, or those in contact with child protection services
• Low-income families 

What programs conduct this activity?

• The Healthy Families America program provides prenatal visits to support expecting woman to achieve an optimal pregnancy experience..

What else should I consider?

The content of home visits should be tailored to individual families and culturally appropriate.

Further resources