Parkdale Infant Nutrition Security Targeted Evaluation Project (PINSTEP): Formative Research (Objective 1-Retrospective Chart Review)

In Toronto Ontario, the Parkdale Community Health Centre operates a community outreach program entitled Parkdale Parents' Primary Prevention Project (5P's). The 5P's provides weekly pre- and post-natal support and education programs for clients. This includes an infant feeding program for mothers with infants 0-6 months (Feeding Tiny Souls). The 5P's has a diverse client-base; the program is aimed at women who are in challenging life circumstances, therefore, clients may include low-income or single mothers and newcomers to Canada.

It is important to know who is accessing community programs and what the drivers of program utilization are in order to better support the women who are enrolled and to target those who are not. The aim of this project is twofold: 1) to investigate what socio-demographic and psychosocial characteristics predict level of participation in a prenatal community outreach program targeting vulnerable mothers and 2) based on utilization of a prenatal program, are there differences in the use of a postnatal program? This study will be conducted through a retrospective chart review. The study population will consist of women who enrolled in 5P's prenatally. The hypothesis is that more vulnerable women will not attend programming as frequently.