Women with fear of childbirth might benefit from having a known midwife during labour

on 24 April 2019

Women and Birth, vol 32, no 1, February 2019, pp 58-63 Hildingsson I; Karlström A; Rubertsson C; et al.

The results of a pilot study which aimed to describe the prevalence and factors related to having access to a known midwife for women referred to counselling due to childbirth fear, have been published.

The study involved 70 women referred to counselling due to fear of birth in 3 Swedish hospitals, and where the counselling midwife, when possible, also assisted during labour and birth.

Results revealed that 34% of the women had a known midwife during labour and birth. These women had significantly more counselling visits, viewed the continuity of care as more important, and were more satisfied with the counselling. 29% reported that their fear disappeared. Fear of birth decreased significantly over time for all women irrespective of whether they were cared for in labour by a known midwife or not.

Read the complete abstract here.

M3 Continuity of care | Abstracts (284) £9.95

This month’s search pack includes articles exploring the concept of continuity of care in maternal health services, including the advantages to the mother and infant of having the same named midwife or midwives throughout pregnancy, labour and the postnatal period. Features articles on efforts to implement continuity of care, evaluation frameworks, conceptual models for implementation, and education of student midwives in provision of continuity of care.

MIDIRS offers literature search packs on a wide range of maternity care topics. Each pack contains multiple article references, helping to support you further in your midwifery training and development.