Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Clinical Trial
. 2002 Mar 16;324(7338):639.
doi: 10.1136/bmj.324.7338.639.

Qualitative study of evidence based leaflets in maternity care

Helen Stapleton  1 , Mavis Kirkham, Gwenan Thomas
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

Qualitative study of evidence based leaflets in maternity care

Helen Stapleton et al. BMJ. .

Abstract

Objective: To examine the use of evidence based leaflets on informed choice in maternity services.

Design: Non-participant observation of 886 antenatal consultations. 383 in depth interviews with women using maternity services and health professionals providing antenatal care.

Setting: Women's homes; antenatal and ultrasound clinics in 13 maternity units in Wales.

Participants: Childbearing women and health professionals who provide antenatal care.

Intervention: Provision of 10 pairs of Informed Choice leaflets for service users and staff and a training session in their use.

Main outcome measures: Participants' views and commonly observed responses during consultations and interviews.

Results: Health professionals were positive about the leaflets and their potential to assist women in making informed choices, but competing demands within the clinical environment undermined their effective use. Time pressures limited discussion, and choice was often not available in practice. A widespread belief that technological intervention would be viewed positively in the event of litigation reinforced notions of "right" and "wrong" choices rather than "informed" choices. Hierarchical power structures resulted in obstetricians defining the norms of clinical practice and hence which choices were possible. Women's trust in health professionals ensured their compliance with professionally defined choices, and only rarely were they observed asking questions or making alternative requests. Midwives rarely discussed the contents of the leaflets or distinguished them from other literature related to pregnancy. The visibility and potential of the leaflets as evidence based decision aids was thus greatly reduced.

Conclusions: The way in which the leaflets were disseminated affected promotion of informed choice in maternity care. The culture into which the leaflets were introduced supported existing normative patterns of care and this ensured informed compliance rather than informed choice.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

References

    1. Department of Health. Changing childbirth. Report of the expert maternity group. London: HMSO; 1993.
    1. O'Cathain A, Walters SJ, Nicholl JP, Thomas KJ, Kirkham M. Use of evidence based leaflets to promote informed choice in maternity care: randomised controlled trial in everyday practice. BMJ. 2002;324:643–646. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Rosser J, Watt IS, Entwistle V. Informed choice initiative: an example of reaching users with evidence based information. J Clin Effect. 1996;1:143–145.
    1. Jones S, Sadler T, Low N, Blott M, Welch J. Does uptake of antenatal HIV testing depend on the individual midwife? Cross sectional study. BMJ. 1998;316:272–273. - PMC - PubMed
    1. McCrea BH, Wright ME, Murphy-Black T. Differences in midwives' approaches to pain relief in labour. Midwifery. 1998;14:174–180. - PubMed

Publication types