The REACH Pregnancy Programme: The feasibility of group antenatal care
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The REACH Pregnancy Programme: A feasibility study of the implementation of 'Pregnancy Circles' as a new way of organising antenatal care
IRAS ID
165058
Contact name
Christine McCourt
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
City University
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Antenatal care is an important public health priority and has the potential to impact positively on women’s health during pregnancy and the subsequent life-course of women and their children. Women from socially disadvantaged and ethnic minority groups report negative experiences with maternity care.
Group-based antenatal care brings together women with similar expected due dates in an appointment combining clinical antenatal care with education and social support. This model of care has been shown in other settings to support continuity of care. The implementation of group-based antenatal care has been proposed as part of the REACH Pregnancy Programme (NIHR Programme Grant for Applied Research).
The aim of this feasibility project is to evaluate and refine a bespoke model of group antenatal care that is appropriate to UK maternity services, ensuring that future trials of group-based antenatal care proposed as part of REACH will be tailored to the needs of the local services and populations. A component of this feasibility study is the evaluation of 3-4 test antenatal care groups which will run during 2015-2016 at Barts Health NHS Trust. The Trust will offer a small number of local women the choice of group antenatal care, and will implement this service change with support from the University of East London. It is the evaluation of this component (to be undertaken by City University) that we are applying for ethical approval for with this application.
For the evaluation, a sample of the groups will be observed and participants will be invited to take part in two group discussions about their experiences. A small number of participants will be invited to take part in one-to-one interviews as will any women who leave the groups before the end of their pregnancy. Women declining group care will also be able to give anonymous feedback to inform future recruitment.
REC name
Wales REC 6
REC reference
15/WA/0369
Date of REC Opinion
6 Oct 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion