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Exploring routine hospital antenatal care consultations : An ethnographic study
Wright, Diane Pincombe, Jan McKellar, Lois
Wright, Diane
Pincombe, Jan
McKellar, Lois
Abstract
Background
Listening to women as part of their antenatal care has been recognized as valuable in understanding the woman’s needs. Conversations as part of routine antenatal interactions offer ideal opportunities for women to express themselves and for midwives to learn about the woman’s issues and concerns. The antenatal visit and the convention of antenatal consultations for midwives have not been well explored or defined and much of what takes place replicate medical consultative processes. As a consequence, there is little to assist midwives construct woman-centred care consultations for their routine antenatal care practice. This study showed how some practices were better in promoting the woman’s voice and woman-centred care in the hospital setting.
Method
Contemporary focused ethnography using both interview and observations, explored how midwives from six different public antenatal clinics in South Australia organized their antenatal care consultations with pregnant women.
Findings
Thematic analysis of the data provided insights into professional interpretation of woman-centred practice. How midwives interacted with women during routine antenatal care events demonstrated that some practices in a hospital setting could either support or undermine a woman-centred philosophy.
Conclusion
Individual midwives adopted practices according to their own perceptions of actions and behaviors that were considered to be in accordance with the philosophy of woman-centred care. Information arising from this study has shown ways midwives may arrange antenatal care consultations to maximize women’s participation.
Keywords
antenatal care, antenatal consultation, midwifery care, communication, pregnancy care, women-centred
Date
2018
Type
Journal article
Journal
Book
Volume
31
Issue
3
Page Range
162-169
Article Number
ACU Department
School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine
Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
Relation URI
Event URL
Open Access Status
License
All rights reserved
File Access
Controlled
Notes
© 2017 Australian College of Midwives. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.