Journal
MIDWIFERY
Volume 27, Issue 1, Pages E122-E127Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.midw.2009.09.006
Keywords
Transition to motherhood; Psychosocial support; Pregnant women; Qualitative research
Categories
Funding
- Royal Dutch Association of Midwives (KNOV)
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Objective: to explore low-risk pregnant women's views on their preferences for psychosocial support from midwives during their transition to motherhood. Design: a qualitative design with focus-group interviews and thematic analysis of the discussions. Settings and respondents: 21 Dutch participants were included in three focus groups. Groups 1 (n=7) and 3 (n=8) consisted of pregnant women from four semi-urban midwifery practices, and group 2 (n=6) included participants from three urban midwifery practices. Findings: the women wanted to take responsibility for their own well-being during pregnancy. In addition to informal support, they explicitly expressed a need for professional support from their midwives when undergoing the transition to motherhood. They wanted informational and emotional support from their midwives that addressed psychological and physical changes during pregnancy. They expressed a strong desire to be informed during pregnancy of how to prepare physically and psychologically for birth, recovery and motherhood. They also wanted help with sifting and interpreting information and, ultimately, wanted to make their own choices. Key conclusions and implications for practice: during their transition to motherhood, healthy low-risk pregnant women want attentive, proactive, professional psychosocial support from midwives. They expect their midwives to oversee the transition period and to be capable of supporting them in dealing with changes in pregnancy and in preparing for birth and motherhood. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available