TRICARE Expectant and New Parents Survey

Published July 7, 2011
By TRICARE

FALLS CHURCH, Va. -- More than 2,000 healthy babies are born to military families each week. Meeting the needs of these young families remains a high priority for TRICARE and those enrolled in TRICARE's Parent Review program give high marks to this outreach. According to these patients, the Parent Review provides convenient and useful resources to guide them through pregnancy, child birth and care of a newborn.

The Parent Review offers weekly, customized emails to new and expectant parents who receive care at select military treatment facilities (MTFs) and civilian practices. Beginning in the seventh week of pregnancy, through birth and up to the child's third birthday, messages are sent directly to the mother's personal email. Included are tips, questions and answers, information on their baby's current stage of development, parenting news and recent research. Emails may also include customized information from the MTF where they receive obstetric or pediatric care.

Last year, TRICARE Management Activity conducted a Web-based survey of program participants to assess the effectiveness of the Parent Review.

Out of the 1,037 completed surveys, the great majority of respondents' comments were positive, expressing appreciation for the email service. Other survey findings included:

86 percent always read their weekly email
78 percent said the emails were extremely/very helpful
74 percent indicated that the emails definitely or usually gave them a sense of connection to their MTF
73 percent said the emails provided new information
Respondents indicated the emails helped them take better care of themselves (76 percent) and their child (84 percent)

In each case, the Hispanic and nonwhite responses were even higher, suggesting that the messages were particularity well suited to the needs of these groups.

In response to the open-ended survey questions, parents described reading the emails with their spouses and sharing them with other family members. One mother mentioned forwarding the emails to her husband, who was deployed during her pregnancy, and said she appreciated the messages as a way to inform and include him in her experience. Another mother said that she sends the email to her mother, who lives out of state, as a way to include her in the pregnancy.

Along with using The Parent Review, military families can help keep their child on the path to healthy development by accessing other useful TRICARE resources at www.tricare.mil/baby.