Exploration of family centered post birth care plans
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An exploration of family centered post birth care plans (PBCP): an underused resource
IRAS ID
249561
Contact name
Susan Crowther
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Robert Gordon University
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 28 days
Research summary
Postnatal (PN) care is often not the focus of innovations, resources, research and development despite it being a profoundly significant time for new families. Repeatedly satisfaction with PN care rates less well than other parts of the maternity services by women and families. It is also well known that the postnatal period holds a variety of physical and psychosocial challenges that require appropriate care provision. In the first stage of this study investigators will ask women and partners and their care providers about the experiences of post birth care and how a post birth care plan may be use. Surveys of post-natal care in Scotland and across the UK (RCM 2014 Scottish Government 2015) have revealed that the care women receive rarely lives up to their expectations. Meeting the individual needs of women and their families has been highlighted as part of The Best Start: A five year forward plan for maternity and neonatal services in Scotland (Scottish Government 2017). The Best Start plan identifies communication with healthcare professionals as an area that women have consistently identified as essential to a positive experience of their care, but is lacking in the post birth period. The development of a post birth care plan (PBCP) with women in the antenatal period is also part of national guidance (NICE 2015). However, evidence demonstrates this is rarely performed in the antenatal period (RCM 2014). To date, supporting women with the development of a PBCP in NHSG has not been part of the care package. The proposed study seeks to identify with with women and midwives a post-natal care planning template that can be used in practice to guide conversations in late pregnancy to encourage the identification of women’s individual needs and facilitate appropriate planning to provide a positive experience of post-natal care. Stage 1 - 10 midwives who provide antenatal and post birth care and 20 women around 36 weeks pregnant and their partners, if they wish, will be asked to participate with in depth interview about their views on post birth care planning, how, when and with whom they would like to develop a post birth care plan, and what a template for these discussions would look like. These interviews will be recorded and transcribed verbatim. Stage 2 - the women recruited in stage 1 will be asked to be involved in making their post birth care plans at about 38 weeks of pregnancy using a template developed from analysis of the data obtained in stage 1. Stage 3 - the women included in stage 2 will participate in an in-depth interview about 4-6 weeks after the baby's birth about their experiences of using the post birth care planning template. They will be asked whether the care plan helped them to identify their own care needs, helped in addressing their identified care needs and affected their satisfaction with the care they received.
REC name
London - London Bridge Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/LO/1178
Date of REC Opinion
16 Jul 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion