What do Cincinnatians know about infant mortality?

At the end of 2015, Cradle Cincinnati partnered with the University of Cincinnati Institute for Policy Research to conduct a random digital dial phone survey of Hamilton County. Our goal was to assess Hamilton County’s knowledge of infant mortality with a specific focus on our three concentration areas: infant safe sleep, maternal smoking cessation, and planning time between pregnancies.A total of 1,203 respondents participated, with oversampling in the City of Cincinnati, target zip codes with high infant mortality rates, and African Americans. Respondents were also broken into sub-categories of gender, race, age, zip code, education level, age of youngest child in the household, knowledge of infant mortality, and whether family/ friends experienced a preterm birth. Here are some of our key findings from the phone survey results:

• Some of the issues we work on, like pregnancy spacing, have very little awareness and need broad education campaigns.
• Some issues, conversely, have broad awareness and need to move beyond just education into behavior change. For example, respondents overwhelming knew the dangers of sharing a bed with a baby.
• There are important demographic differences around knowledge. For example, men frequently report less awareness of the issues surrounding infant mortality than women.
• A changing landscape provides a challenge for our work. E-cigarettes, for example, are seen as safer during pregnancy by some respondents.

You can view the complete survey results here.