Lost in translation? English- and Spanish-speaking women’s perceptions of gestational weight gain safety, health risks and counseling

• Published in: Journal of perinatology Vol. 35; no. 8; pp. 585 - 589
• Main Authors: Smid, M C, Dorman, K F, Boggess, K A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Nature Publishing Group US 01-08-2015; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 692/700/228; Body Mass Index; Confidence intervals; Counseling; Cross-Cultural Comparison; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Health aspects; Health counseling; Health risks; Hispanic Americans - ethnology; Humans; Language; Logistic Models; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Obesity - epidemiology; Odds Ratio; original-article; Pediatric Surgery; Pediatrics; Perception; Physiological aspects; Polls & surveys; Pregnancy; Pregnant women; Pregnant Women - psychology; Regression analysis; Self Report; Statistical analysis; Surveys; Translations; United States - ethnology; Weight gain; Weight Gain - ethnology; Weight loss; United States
• ISSN: 0743-8346; 1476-5543
• DOI: 10.1038/jp.2015.24

Objective:
To determine English- and Spanish-speaking women’s perceptions on gestational weight gain (GWG) counseling.
Study design:
We administered a written survey to 279 pregnant women regarding GWG counseling and knowledge. We compared English- and Spanish-speaking women’s responses using
X
2
-tests and logistic regression analyses.
Result:
Seventy-four (27%) women completed the survey in Spanish and 205 (73%) in English. More Spanish compared with English speakers did not know if their provider recommended weight gain goals (26% vs 10%, odds ratio (OR) 3.2, confidence interval (CI) 1.5 to 6.5); if there are risks to excessive GWG for mother (27% vs 11%, OR 3.1, CI 1.5 to 6.4) or infant (38% vs 16%, OR 3.3, CI 1.7 to 6.3); or if exercise (15% vs 1%, OR 12.1, CI 3.0 to 69.1) or weight loss (35% v 12%, OR 4.0, CI 2.0 to 8.0) were safe during pregnancy.
Conclusion:
Significant differences exist between Spanish- and English-speaking women’s perception of GWG counseling, which may be due to language or cultural barriers.