Measuring community building in group antenatal care: Evidence from a randomized trial in Malawi

Participation in group antenatal care at seven clinics in Blantyre District, Malawi is linked to significantly stronger community building, with higher relational support, peer network, and provider connectedness (p < 0.001).

• Why it matters: While group antenatal care improves several aspects of care, the community-building component has lacked quantitative measurement and evidence for how it relates to maternal and infant outcomes.
• What they did: Using quantitative data from a randomized trial, the study validated the Perinatal Peer Support Scale and the Provider Connectedness subscale via factor analyses, then tested group versus individual antenatal care with generalized linear modeling.
• The result: The measures showed a two-factor structure for perinatal peer support and a unidimensional structure for provider connectedness, but community building showed no direct or indirect mediating effects on maternal psychological distress or infant birthweight.

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