The latest issue of the Journal of Women’s Health, published an article aboutThe Media Network’s project for the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Furthermore, the project is to develop culturally competent and effective outreach materials to promote daily folic acid consumption among Spanish-speaking Hispanic women of childbearing age for the prevention of neural tube birth defects, such as spina bifida and anencephaly.

Our formative research findings from studying 132 Latina women indicated the need for a new brochure targeted at mothers to correct their misperception that the birth of a healthy child reduces their risk of having subsequent children with birth defects.  As a result, materials tested positively with all audience segments using pre- and post-test designs, which demonstrated a statistically relevant increase in knowledge and intent to take folic acid.