Interventions with pregnant women, especially those assessing perceived stress and attitudes toward the pregnancy, have the potential to improve pregnancy outcomes. Additional prospective research with pregnant women on the origins and effects of stress, including the biological effects of stress, is needed.

This study suggests that attitudes about pregnancy may be a psychosocial barrier to women obtaining early and continuous prenatal care. Pregnancy attitudes should be assessed and appropriate services provided to improve women's utilization of prenatal care. New measures of pregnancy attitude, beyond the traditional intention measures, can be useful in assessing pregnancy wantedness and identifying women to target for these services.

Social workers provide essential services in the area of end-of-life care to individuals who are dying and their families. Results reported here suggest that social work's role be expanded to provide basic information about local final arrangement (funeral and burial) options and costs. This study was undertaken to determine the knowledge and experience level of people responsible for funeral and cemetery arrangements and to investigate factors affecting familiarity with final costs. Survey responses from 163 survivors of older adults in Kansas City showed that adult children play an important role in the final arrangements of a parent and that half the survivors responsible for final arrangements had no idea what to expect in terms of costs.

Data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development/Missouri Maternal and Infant Health Survey on about 2,828 mothers were used to examine the relationship between perceived stress and prenatal care utilization. Major life events that contribute to stress also were examined in relation to adequacy of prenatal care. Women who received inadequate prenatal care were more likely to have reported that they almost always felt stress during pregnancy. Odds ratios were statistically significant for women who were not black and Medicaid recipients but not for black women and women who were not covered by Medicaid. Social work intervention for stress reduction on behalf of pregnant women has the potential to contribute to improved prenatal care utilization, but further analysis of the kinds of stress women experience will enhance social work's ability to target specific interventions.

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