Using a citizens' jury approach to determine a good nutrition resource for pregnant women

Abstract

Objective: The development of user-friendly nutrition resources for pregnant women seldom involves end-users. This qualitative study used a citizens' jury approach to determine if our modification of a longstanding, frequently used dietitian-informed diet and diabetes booklet was deemed to be a good healthy eating resource for pregnant women.

Design: Midwives recruited thirteen first-time pregnant women not requiring specialist obstetric care or specialist dietetic advice for any reason. Participants were sent a copy of the modified healthy eating in pregnancy booklet prior to 'jury day'. Five women were unable to attend the citizens' jury citing reasons such as early labour. At the jury, five experts presented evidence. Participants adjourned, with an independent facilitator, to 'deliberate' as to whether the resource was suitable or not. The verdict was presented, and subsequent discussion was audio-recorded, transcribed and inductively content analysed.

Setting: Southland, New Zealand.

Participants: Pregnant women aged 19-35 years (n 8), of whom half had a household income <$NZ30 000.

Results: The verdict was 'Yes'; the resource was good. Three themes were derived: communication of health information, resource content and harm reduction in pregnancy. Based on these data, ways to enhance the quality and usability of the booklet were evident.

Conclusions: Citizens' juries can be used to obtain an independent assessment by end-users of health resources. Our modified diet and diabetes booklet was considered suitable for providing healthy eating advice to pregnant women. Inclusion of end-users' perspectives is critical for end-user relevant content, comprehension and resource credibility.

Keywords: Citizens’ jury; Gestational weight gain; Healthy eating; Patient education handout; Pregnancy; Qualitative methods.