Costs and benefits of community postnatal support workers: a randomised controlled trial.

Abstract

T he overall aim of the NHS R&D Health Technology Assessment (HTA) programme is to ensure that high-quality research information on the costs, effectiveness and broader impact of health technologies is produced in the most efficient way for those who use, manage and work in the NHS. Research is undertaken in those areas where the evidence will lead to the greatest benefits to patients, either through improved patient outcomes or the most efficient use of NHS resources. The Standing Group on Health Technology advises on national priorities for health technology assessment. Six advisory panels assist the Standing Group in identifying and prioritising projects. These priorities are then considered by the HTA Commissioning Board supported by the National Coordinating Centre for HTA (NCCHTA). This report is one of a series covering acute care, diagnostics and imaging, methodology, pharmaceuticals, population screening, and primary and community care. It was identified as a priority by the Primary and Community Care Panel and funded as project number 94/22/24. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Standing Group, the Commissioning Board, the Panel members or the Department of Health. The editors wish to emphasise that funding and publication of this research by the NHS should not be taken as implicit support for the recommendations for policy contained herein. In particular, policy options in the area of screening will be considered by the National Screening Committee. This Committee, chaired by the Chief Medical Officer, will take into account the views expressed here, further available evidence and other relevant considerations. Reviews in Health Technology Assessment are termed 'systematic' when the account of the search, appraisal and synthesis methods (to minimise biases and random errors) would, in theory, permit the replication of the review by others. Criteria for inclusion in the HTA monograph series Reports are published in the HTA monograph series if (1) they have resulted from work either prioritised by the Standing Group on Health Technology, or otherwise commissioned for the HTA Programme, and (2) they are of a sufficiently high scientific quality as assessed by the referees and editors.

Tiredness and fatigue in the postnatal period

“…midwifery, support would be helpful to new mothers to prevent tiredness, this may be neither realistic nor welcome. The provision of more ‘routine’ midwife visits runs counter to the current development of United Kingdom (UK) maternity services (Garcia et al . 1994, Morell et al .…”

Review: Breastfeeding Peer Counseling: From Efficacy Through Scale-Up

“…Because the terms used to describe breastfeeding peer counselors in the literature varied, studies included in this review met commonly accepted definitions of lay health workers 4 or community health workers 5 who are providing breastfeeding education and support. Studies were excluded if the intervention exclusively utilized professional health workers such as nurses 6, 7 or if the intervention was not primarily focused on breastfeeding 8 . For the section on the scale-up of breastfeeding PC, abstracts were included if they described large-scale randomized trials evaluating a breastfeeding PC intervention or the development/evaluation of regional or national breastfeeding PC programs or programs including a PC component.…”

Training needs of midwifery assistants

“…This is similar to the service offered in The Netherlands (see Van Teijlingen 1990). In the UK, Morrell et al. (2000) studied the role of assistant in offering practical and emotional help to women postnatally.…”