Shared Decision Making for Labour and Birth
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Shared decision making for labour and birth
IRAS ID
277301
Contact name
Anna Davies
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 8 months, 1 days
Research summary
Informed consent to interventions for labour and birth have become important since the Montgomery Ruling (2015), which confirmed the need to provide information to patients tailored to what is important to them, to enable informed decision-making. Patients and childbirth charities have been advocating for improvement toe experiences of birth. Shared decision making has been highlighted as a cornerstone of the NHS's goal for personalised care.
During labour women are frequently offered interventions to ensure the safe delivery of their baby. Women may be vulnerable and in pain and it may be difficult to make informed decisions. Therefore, it is important to prepare women for decision-making, and to prepare staff to work in partnership with them.Some women are not adequately prepared for this complex decision making by current antenatal care and education. Discussions about interventions for birth may be avoided or minimised to prevent distress or worry. However, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists states that, where possible, women should be informed during the antenatal period about predictable problems and interventions. However, it is not clear how much and whether women wish to receive this information, and if it will help them to make shared decisions. Key issues to address are: i) identifying what information should be given, ii) about which interventions and iii) when that information should be given.
We aim to carry out exploratory work to understand the views of antenatal and post-natal women and the staff working with them, to help develop future interventions. We will conduct two qualitative interview studies to explore i) antenatal and postnatal women's views, and ii) staff's views about current practice around informed decision making, and which information should be delivered, when and how.REC name
South West - Frenchay Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/SW/0035
Date of REC Opinion
21 Aug 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion