'24 Hour Labour Line' - A Qualitative Exploration
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An exploration of the experiences of women, birth partners and midwives of using a dedicated, midwife-led telephone support line for labour.
IRAS ID
168418
Contact name
Marie Nott
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Southampton
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 3 months, 30 days
Research summary
In 2013 Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (HHFT) launched an advice and support telephone line for women and their birth partners to call during labour. The telephone line is called the ’24 hour labour line’ (LL). The LL is the first dedicated service, located away from the hospital setting (the midwife is situated in the local ambulance control centre) in the UK. The location and time available to midwives enables HHFT to meet the recommendations of the Royal College of Midwives (2012) that women have ‘good access to verbal support and encouragement’ (pg 6) during early labour.
This research has two stages. The first, using semi-structured qualitative interviews, aims to explore the experiences of women, birth partners and midwives of using the LL service. The second stage will use routinely recorded telephone conversations (which will be transcribed) between the midwife and a woman she spoke to. The research will explore with the midwife and woman how the conversation was intended, experienced, understood and interpreted from both perspectives, using semi-structured interviews and the transcription as a memory aid.
It is important that health professionals better understand how women and birth partners experience the service so that the care of women at home during labour can be improved in the future. Better understanding the telephone interaction between midwives and women will help improve the telephone care provided to women and their birth partners and the training received by midwives.
Women and birth partners aged 18 and over, who had a baby within the last 12 weeks, who are considered psychologically and physiologically able to participate by the midwives caring for them, who called the HHFT LL during labour will be eligible to participate. Midwives working on the HHFT LL within the last 12 weeks will be eligible to participate.
REC name
South Central - Hampshire A Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/SC/0175
Date of REC Opinion
28 May 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion