Despite efforts to improve access to prenatal care, emerging adult Latinas in the United States continue to enter care late in their pregnancies and/or underutilize these services. Since little is known about emerging adult Latinas and their prenatal care experiences, the purpose of this study was to identify actual and perceived prenatal care barriers in a sample of 54 emerging adult Latinas between 18 and 21 years of age. More than 95% of the sample experienced personal and institutional barriers when attempting to access prenatal care. Results from this study lend support for policy changes for time away from school or work to attend prenatal care and for group prenatal care.

The prevalence of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome has become a global epidemic that has affected many different racial and ethnic groups. One group that has lacked attention is the Hispanic population, due to its distinctive cultural characteristics. Many of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infections in Hispanics occur in adolescents. A protective factor for preventing HIV infections in adolescents is parent-child communication about sexual intercourse; however discussions about sexuality are uncommon in Hispanic families. When promoting parent-child communication among Hispanics regarding sex, it is essential to include cultural characteristics and the use of a model for empowering both parents and adolescents. The cultural characteristics examined in this article are allocentrism, familialism, personal space, time orientation, power distance, gender roles, and fatalism. A partnership model for empowering parents and adolescents, and 5 steps of the partnership process are discussed.

Objective To compare symptoms of depression, maternal adjustment, and perceived stress in late adolescent and young adult mothers and to examine the patterns of these symptoms during the first 3 months after birth. Design Secondary analysis of existing longitudinal data. Setting San Francisco Bay Area with participants in their home environment Participants Ethnically diverse women who were expecting their first infants were recruited during the third trimester from childbirth education classes and antenatal clinics. The final sample included thirty-four participants in the late adolescent group (18–20 years) and 48 participants in the young adult group (21–24 years). Methods The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale was used to assess depression symptoms; the Maternal Adjustment and Maternal Attitudes Scale was used to assess maternal adjustment; and the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale was used to assess perceived stress. Repeated measures ANOVA were used to examine changes over time in depression, maternal adjustment, and perceived stress scores. Results Compared to young adult participants, late adolescent participants had higher mean depression scores (F(1, 61) = 8.02, p = 0.006) and perceived stress scores (F(1, 62) = 9.45, p = 0.003) at all time points. Scores for maternal adjustment could not be compared because of the low internal validity of the instrument. Conclusions Results indicate that late adolescent mothers may have more symptoms of depression and stress in late pregnancy and the early postpartum period than young adult mothers. Clinicians in maternity and pediatric settings should be vigilant in screening for depression and stress in this vulnerable population during their transition to motherhood.

<p class="Pa7"><strong>Objective: </strong>Disparities in fruit and vegetable consumption have been observed across income and race-ethnicity and shown to be associated with both access to fresh food venues and price. This study assesses the feasibility of increasing produce consump­tion by incentivizing fruit and vegetable purchases at local markets.</p><p class="Pa7"><strong>Design: </strong>We conducted analyses of a cross-sectional survey of program participants and point-of-sale reports on fruit and vegetable purchases at the fresh food markets.</p><p class="Pa7"><strong>Participants: </strong>A total of 176 participants were enrolled in the “Veggie Dollars” pro­gram (VDP).</p><p class="Pa7"><strong>Setting: </strong>Five fresh food markets in the Lower Ninth Ward (LNW) of New Orleans, Louisiana.</p><p class="Pa7"><strong>Intervention: </strong>From January to July 2016, Sankofa, our community partner, recruited patrons at its markets into the VDP, a fresh food incentive program. Participants re­ceived coupons worth $4 per week for fruit and vegetables over a six-week period.</p><p class="Pa7"><strong>Main Outcome Measures: </strong>Total monthly gross, VDP, and SNAP benefit sales at the markets measured program participation. A survey (N=96) assessed the demographics and fruit and vegetable purchasing practices of participants.</p><p class="Pa7"><strong>Results: </strong>Participants were predominantly women (81%), African American (94%) and raising children at home (53%). Point-of-sales data indicated that VDP sales nearly doubled over the intervention period. Total market sales and SNAP benefit purchases also increased. The majority (63%) of VDP participants reported their produce purchas­es increased and 89% reported increasing their consumption of fruit and vegetables since entering the program.</p><p class="Pa7"><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Monetary incentives were as­sociated with increased fruit and vegetable purchases at local fresh food markets in a low-income minority community.</p><p class="Pa7">Ethn Dis. 2017;27(Suppl 1):287-294; doi:10.18865/ed.27.S1.287.</p>

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