The OPTIMIZE Study: Optimizing Patient Navigation for Perinatal Care
The OPTIMIZE Study: Optimizing Patient Navigation for Perinatal Care
This study will develop and test an intervention, called OPTIMIZE, which includes the use of
 a perinatal checklist by clinic staff and provision of patient navigation support to African
 American pregnant women. Half of the clinics in the study will be assigned to the OPTIMIZE
 intervention and half will administer standard care.
African American women and their infants experience profound perinatal health disparities.
 The purpose of this study is to develop and evaluate the OPTIMIZE intervention, which is an
 integrated and comprehensive perinatal care checklist with patient navigation support, using
 a Hybrid Type I Cluster Randomized Effectiveness-Implementation Pragmatic Trial among 600
 African American women (15-45 years of age and 1st-2nd trimester of pregnancy) recruited from
 approximately 20 clinics affiliated with two Chicago area community health center networks
 that are the largest providers of perinatal care for low-income African American women in
 Chicago. Clinic sites will be randomized 1:1 to standard perinatal care (control arm) or
 standard perinatal care plus the OPTIMIZE checklist with Patient Navigation support starting
 from the initial prenatal visit and up through 12-weeks postpartum (intervention arm).

 The study will test the central hypothesis that African American women in the OPTIMIZE
 intervention group will have received a greater proportion of recommended perinatal care
 components (prenatal care content, postpartum care content, and social determinants of health
 content) consistent with American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists guidelines than
 African American women in the standard care group.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  Age 15 to 45 years

 -  Self-identified as Black/African American

 -  Pregnant or recently gave birth (less than 6 months post-delivery)

 -  English speaking

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  Cognitive impairment

 -  Incarceration

 -  Adults unable to consent