Guías de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe
Funded by the Daughters of Charity, The Guías Project trained a cadre of Spanish-speaking promotores, housed at St. Francis Hospital in Lynwood, California, to provide pre-and postpartum visits to Spanish-speaking Latinas in an effort to provide participants both education and social support, while connecting them to health-protective resources and programs. Goal-setting was facilitated at each visit while concurrent educational objectives met, which included: development of health advocacy skills, assessment of depression, vaccination education, breastfeeding promotion, birth preparation, nutrition education, discipline and parenting strategies, and several other infant health parameters. Through this pilot project promotores provided Latina immigrants 13 to 24 weeks pregnant with 10 outreach visits designed to meet their educational needs at the different stages of pregnancy through 6 months post partum. The visits not only provided the expectant mother with developmentally-based health education information, but also the social support needed to adhere to prenatal and postnatal visits and work toward positive health outcomes. We are currently evaluating the outcomes of the project to determine best practices to create optimal perinatal health outcomes using promotores.