Healthy Birth Practice #3: Bring a Loved One, Friend, or Doula for Continuous Support

Green, Jeanne; Hotelling, Barbara A.

doi:10.1891/1058-1243.23.4.194

Cited by 19 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Consequently, women felt assured and secure in the ‘unusual’ birth environment [ 45 , 47 , 49 , 50 , 52 , 54 ]. These findings are supported by Melender [ 55 ] and Green and Hotelling [ 59 ] highlighting the need for a mediator during childbirth to convey women’s wishes to midwives and vice-versa. In this way women do not feel desolate.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 53%

“…These measures enabled women to go through the phases of childbirth in a state of optimal physical well-being. Green and Hotelling [ 59 ] and Simkin and Bolding [ 60 ] advocate for mobility and other comfort measures as a way of promoting and expediting spontaneous childbirth ensuring that women are not exposed to long periods of discomfort and painful labour.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Women’s experiences of continuous support during childbirth: a meta-synthesis

Lunda

Minnie

Benadé

2018

BMC Pregnancy Childbirth

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BackgroundDespite the known benefits of continuous support during childbirth, the practice is still not routinely implemented in all maternity settings and women’s views and experiences might not be considered.The purpose of the study was to integrate individual studies’ findings related to women’s experiences of continuous support during childbirth in order to expand the understanding of the phenomenon. The review question was: What were the views and experiences of women regarding continuous support during childbirth as reported in studies that adopted qualitative or mixed research methods (with a qualitative component) using semi-structured, in-depth or focus group interviews or case studies?MethodsA detailed search was executed on electronic data bases: EBSCOhost: Medline, CINAHL, PsychINFO, SocINDEX, OAlster, Scopus, SciELO, Science Direct, PubMED and Google Scholar, using a predetermined search strategy. Reference lists of included studies were analysed to identify possible studies that were missing from electronic data bases.Pre-determined inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied during the selection of eligible sources. After critical appraisal, a total of 12 studies were included for data-extraction and meta-synthesis.ResultsTwo themes were identified, namely the roles and attributes of the support persons and the type of support provided. Women’s perceptions about continuous support during childbirth were influenced by the characteristics and attributes of the support person as well as the types of supportive care rendered. Women preferred someone with whom they were familiar and comfortable.ConclusionContinuous support during childbirth was valued by most women. Their perceptions were influenced by the type of support person: a health professional or a lay support person. Health care institutions should include continuous support during childbirth in their policies and guidelines.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12884-018-1755-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 53%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Women’s experiences of continuous support during childbirth: a meta-synthesis

Lunda

Minnie

Benadé

2018

BMC Pregnancy Childbirth

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“…that facilitate the physiologic process: letting labor start on its own (so that mother and baby are ready for labor), freedom of movement (to help women cope with pain and to protect the birth canal and the baby during rotation and descent of the baby), labor support (to decrease fear, enhance emotional and physical relaxation, and provide for privacy), spontaneous pushing and birth in upright positions (to facilitate rotation and descent of the baby), and keeping mother and baby together (to facilitate transition of the baby to extrauterine life, breastfeeding, and placental separation; Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews; Goer & Romano, 2012). These findings are summarized in Healthy Birth Practice papers by Amis (2014), Crenshaw (2014), DiFranco and Curl (2014), Green and Hotelling (2014), and Ondeck (2014).…”

mentioning

confidence: 98%

Healthy Birth Practice #4: Avoid Interventions Unless They Are Medically Necessary

Lothian¹

2014

J Perinat Educ

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Maternity care in the United States is intervention intensive. The routine use of intravenous fluids, restrictions on eating and drinking, continuous electronic fetal monitoring, epidural analgesia, and augmentation of labor characterize most U.S. births. The use of episiotomy is far from restrictive. These interventions disturb the normal physiology of labor and birth and restrict women's ability to cope with labor. The result is a cascade of interventions that increase risk, including the risk of cesarean surgery, for women and babies. Seventeen percent of women had an episiotomy, and 31% had a cesarean. The high use of these interventions reflects a system-wide maternity care philosophy of expecting trouble. There is an increasing body of research that suggests that the routine use of each of these interventions, rather than decreasing the risk of trouble in labor and birth, actually increases complications for both women and their babies.The purpose of this article is to review the literature related to the evidence base and the outcomes associated with the interventions routinely used in labor and birth in the United States. The findings make the case for the value of maternity care that avoids the use of routine interventions.Maternity care in the United States is intervention intensive. Listening to Mothers III (Declercq, Sakala, Corry, Applebaum, & Herrlich, 2013), the most recent national survey of women's pregnancy, birth, and postpartum experiences, reports that for women who gave birth from June 2011 to June 2012, 89% of women experienced electronic fetal monitoring (66% continuously), 62% received intravenous fluids, 79% experienced restrictions on eating, and 60% experienced restrictions on drinking in labor. Sixty-seven percent of women who gave birth vaginally had an epidural in labor, and 31% were given Pitocin to speed up their labors. Twenty percent of women had their membranes artificially ruptured.

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“…The six papers in this issue of the JPE update the research that provides the foundation for clear guidelines for safe maternity care (Amis, 2019;Crenshaw, 2019;Curl, 2019;Green & Hotelling, 2019;Lothian, 2019;Ondeck, 2019). The research findings continue to support the value and critical importance of promoting, protecting, and supporting physiologic birth and the risks of interfering in that process without clear and compelling medical indications.…”

Section: Pdf_folio:65mentioning

confidence: 90%

Safe Childbirth: A Call to Action

Lothian¹

2019

J Perinat Educ

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Since the publication of Lamaze's Six Healthy Birth Practice papers in 2014, there has been increasing concern with the safety of the current maternity care system. A doubling of the maternal mortality rate in the United States and the continued high cesarean rate, as well as ongoing research that supports physiologic birth and identifies the risks of interfering with the physiologic process, has resulted in updated guidelines for care and has spurred advocacy efforts to transform maternity care. This article presents a number of these advocacy efforts.

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Healthy Birth Practice #3: Bring a Loved One, Friend, or Doula for Continuous Support

Cited by 19 publications

References 8 publications

Women’s experiences of continuous support during childbirth: a meta-synthesis

Women’s experiences of continuous support during childbirth: a meta-synthesis

Healthy Birth Practice #4: Avoid Interventions Unless They Are Medically Necessary

Safe Childbirth: A Call to Action

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