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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2017 May 2;12(5):e0176819.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0176819. eCollection 2017.

Antenatal small-class education versus auditorium-based lectures to promote positive transitioning to parenthood - A randomised trial

Vibeke Koushede  1 , Carina Sjöberg Brixval  1 , Lau Caspar Thygesen  1 , Solveig Forberg Axelsen  2 , Per Winkel  3 , Jane Lindschou  3 , Christian Gluud  3 , Pernille Due  1
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Antenatal small-class education versus auditorium-based lectures to promote positive transitioning to parenthood - A randomised trial

Vibeke Koushede et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Prospective parents widely use education to gain information about, e.g., labour and parenting skills. It is unknown if antenatal education in small classes is more beneficial for parenting stress and parenting alliance compared with other types of antenatal education. In the present randomised trial, we examined the effect of antenatal education in small classes versus auditorium-based lectures on perceived stress, parenting stress, and parenting alliance. A total of 1,766 pregnant women were randomised to receive: antenatal education in small classes three times in pregnancy and one time after delivery, each session lasted 2.5 hours, versus standard care consisting of two times two hours auditorium-based lectures. Previous analysis of the primary outcome showed no difference between intervention and control group. Here we conduct an exploratory analysis of three secondary outcomes. Effects of the interventions on parents' global feelings of stress at 37 weeks gestation and nine weeks and six months postpartum and parenting stress nine weeks and six months postpartum were examined using linear regression analyses and mixed models with repeated measurements. The effect on parenting alliance six months postpartum was examined using the non-parametric Wilcoxon rank-sum test. Antenatal education in small classes had a small beneficial main effect on global feelings of stress six months postpartum and a statistically significant interaction between time and group favoring antenatal education in small classes. The P values of intervention effects on parenting stress and parenting alliance were all larger than the threshold value (0.05).

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Flow diagram of recruitment, randomisation, and response in the NEWBORN trial.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Comparison of square rooted mean PSS over time between intervention and control groups.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Comparison of mean SPSQ over time between intervention and control groups.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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