Title: Assessment of Community Awareness and Understanding to Increase Access to the San Francisco Family & Pregnancy Pop Up Village

 

Introduction: In California, racial disparities in pregnancy outcomes continue to be a

well-known crisis with the maternal mortality rate for Black women more than four times as high as for White women from 2017 to 2019 and the preterm birth rate from 2019 to 2021 being 56% higher for Black women compared to White women. Launched in July 2021, the San Francisco Family and Pregnancy Pop Up Village (PV) was established to reduce barriers to care and improve pregnancy care experience for San Francisco residents and families who face the greatest inequalities in San Francisco: low income and Black individuals. Although PV had over 1500 visitors from July 2021 to February 2023, only 14% of visitors were pregnant or within one year postpartum. In addition, feedback received from PV visitors have noted insufficient outreach and marketing to pregnant people and their families, raising questions about if there is adequate community awareness of PV and understanding about what it provides. Assessing community knowledge about PV, and identifying other barriers that may be preventing PV’s priority population (Black pregnant and postpartum people) from attending Pop-Up is critical to improving access to this care model.

 

Aims:

1. To assess outreach efficacy by engaging San Francisco community members to see if they have heard of PV.
2. To assess response of Black San Francisco residents and other residents of color to advertising materials, and if messaging clearly communicates the value of PV events.
3. To understand factors impacting PV attendance of BIPOC residents of San Francisco.

 

Methods: From May to August 2023, data were collected from 107 total community participants through five focus groups and informal engagement through local clinics and

pregnancy-focused CBOs in San Francisco. The researcher asked if participants have heard of PV, their feedback on 10 campaign images, what seems valuable about PV, and barriers to attending PV. The image feedback as well as the facilitators and barriers to attending PV were organized into themes.

 

Results: Out of 107 participants, 43% of total participants were Black identifying, of which 52% were pregnant or postpartum. In terms of outreach efficacy, 69% of participants had not heard of PV. Our findings for the campaign image feedback revealed that Black participants valued positive Black father and Black teen representation, Black moms being supported and not alone, vibrant and outdoor scenery in a San Francisco setting and positive affirmations on images. In terms of factors impacting attendance, the main themes specific to facilitators included free resources, mental health resources, and welcoming vibes. The main themes