SPCH Seminar Series: "The Credence Good Problem in Early Pregnancy Care: Research Update on Unregulated Pregnancy Centers in Montana"

Patrick Boise is a 3rd-year PhD student in Public Health whose dissertation examines unregulated pregnancy centers (UPCs), also known as crisis pregnancy centers, and the early pregnancy resource landscape in Montana. His research applies the economic concept of credence goods to examine how information asymmetry may shape people's ability to identify, evaluate, and navigate pregnancy-related services when the quality and completeness of information are difficult to assess. This research update will discuss the evolution of his dissertation and ongoing work examining the digital presence of UPCs, their geographic accessibility relative to licensed reproductive healthcare, and the experiences of providers, stakeholders, and people with lived experience navigating Montana's early pregnancy resource landscape.