A case study of volunteers providing labour and childbirth support in hospitals in Canada

Abstract

Objective: to document the process and outcome of an attempt to combine and institutionalise two grassroots health programmes that provided trained volunteers to support women through labour and childbirth in hospital.

Design: a qualitative, descriptive, comparative case study of programmes, with data collected through in-depth individual interviews with key informants and document review.

Setting: a Regional Health Authority in Canada.

Participants: 16 women, from various stakeholder groups, with knowledge about the programmes.

Findings: despite considerable effort expended, the unified regional programme was not realised. This research highlights contextual factors that were salient for the programme's implementation.

Key conclusions and implications for practice: complex individual, interpersonal and institutional factors needed to be acknowledged but were not addressed in programme planning. This research may be relevant to policy and decision makers considering expansion of grassroots or community programmes to regional levels of service.