The health belief model and attendance for prenatal care.

Adequate prenatal care as defined by timely initiation and completion of prenatal visits has been frequently associated with good perinatal outcomes. Health beliefs and other psychosocial and demographic variables were explored in a cohort of 255 rural recently delivered women to determine the important correlates with adequate prenatal care. Respondents' health beliefs relating to pregnancy and prenatal care were assessed with an instrument with acceptable construct validity and reliability. A prevention-oriented health belief score, tangible social support, and adequate health insurance were all positively associated with adequacy of care as defined above.