BME women attending Perineal Clinics, Version 1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Barriers and Facilitators of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) women attending Perineal Trauma clinics after Obstetric Anal Sphincter Injury (OASI)
IRAS ID
262157
Contact name
Priyanka H Krishnaswamy
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 0 days
Research summary
Most women experience a perineal tear during childbirth. The majority of tears are superficial involving the vagina and perineum (area between the vagina and anus). However, three in 100 women experience a more severe tear involving the anal sphincters which are important muscles which stop stool and gas from leaking. These injuries are referred to as third or fourth degree tears or Obstetric Anal Sphincter Injuries (OASI). These women are more likely to experience problems such as urinary and bowel leakage, pain and psychological difficulties after delivery. When a woman has sustained an OASI at St Mary’s a follow-up appointment is arranged for her 3 months after delivery in a perineal clinic. The purpose of this appointment is to see if the woman is having any problems, check that the injury has healed and discuss with her plans for future childbirths. We have performed a service evaluation of this clinic in 2015 which showed that more than a quarter of women do not attend this appointment. BME women were twice as likely to not attend for follow-up care.
We plan to carry out a questionnaire based research study to identify potential barriers and facilitators that could specifically influence BME women attending follow-up care. We will discuss and modify the questionnaire based on discussion with the St Mary's focus group, community and staff BME groups. This questionnaire will be administered to three different groups of women so as to have a better understanding of these factors in different situations - those who are on the postnatal ward after having a repair of OASI, those who are at the perineal clinic for follow up and those who did not attend the clinic at all.
REC name
London - Brent Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/LO/1811
Date of REC Opinion
10 Dec 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion