VIP: Video informed practice/Voices in partnership - Version 1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Interactional practices of decision-making during childbirth in maternity units
IRAS ID
211358
Contact name
Ellen Annandale
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of York
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 11 months, 29 days
Research summary
Government policy states that women in labour should be involved in decisions about their care and treatment. We know what is said during labour matters for how women experience birth. However, policy recommendations to staff about how to communicate with women in labour are not based on evidence about what actually happens in birth. This is because most existing research is based on interviewing or surveying women some weeks after birth, so the details of what was said in labour are lost. We need research that provides details of actual talk about decisions during labour. The details of talk matter because, as other studies of communication in medical settings have shown, even small changes in use of words can make a difference to what happens in healthcare.
We aim:
•To find out how decisions are reached and communicated through the talk that happens between staff, women in labour and their birth partners.To do this, we will:
•Video (or audio record if women prefer) the labours of 50 low-risk, full-term women and write down what was said and how it was said (e.g. laughing, sighing).•Analyse how decisions are discussed using Conversation Analysis, which is the leading method for understanding how talk works.
•Use questionnaires before birth to ask women about their expectations and after birth to ask about their satisfaction.
•Look at patterns between how satisfied women were with their experience and the kinds of talk that actually happened during birth.
•Conduct one-to-one interviews with selected midwives and doctors to ask about what they think is helpful and unhelpful in giving women choice.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - South Yorkshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/YH/0102
Date of REC Opinion
15 May 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion