When you're pregnant, everyone likes to give you advice. Some of it is welcomed, some of it is not, and what is true or untrue is often a matter of opinion.

But all advice aside, the Women's Healthcare Group in York has teamed up with two York College faculty members to collaborate on a project to make sure that women in York receive the best care possible to ensure a healthy pregnancy.

By having pregnant women who are using services at Women's Healthcare Group complete a series of surveys, the Healthy Mommies and Babies project hopes to identify the factors connected to healthy pregnancies so that the group's services can help maximize the health of every mother and baby in the future.

During the month of July, Jennifer Engler and Carla Strassle, both associate professors of psychology at York College, have been recruiting pregnant women to participate in surveys for the Healthy Mommies and Babies project.

So far they have received responses from about 100 women, and they hope to hear back from as many as possible to make the statistical analysis as accurate as possible, Engler said.

Survey: Questions on the survey relate to how people respond to stress, recent problems they may have experienced,

close relationships, emotions and behaviors, Engler said.

Parents who participate in the survey receive a free onesie for their baby and have the option of participating in a raffle to win gift cards.

So far the participants have responded positively, said Engler. The project directors plan to assemble the data in fall and complete the analysis by springtime, she said.

Deron Schriver, Women's Healthcare Group executive administrator, came up with the idea and began developing the project in 2010.

"There is tremendous potential to enhance the care provided by WHCG and health care providers everywhere," Schriver said. "What we could learn could be applied throughout the entire health care spectrum, but in this case we're looking at pregnancy, in particular."

Factors like lifestyle, emotions and attitudes affect the decisions that individuals make, and those choices ultimately have an impact upon a person's health, Schriver said. Health care providers could improve their service greatly if a link between those factors and health outcomes could be clearly shown, he said.

Engler said that while this project focuses on pregnancy, there is a possibility for future projects pertaining to other women's health topics.

-- Reach Chelsea Shank at 505-5432 or cshank@yorkdispatch.com