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The pregnancy experience: a mixed methods analysis of women’s understanding of the antenatal journey

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Irish Journal of Medical Science (1971 -) Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

Positive contact with antenatal care and its providers improves positive outcomes for women and their babies. This involves the accrual and use of knowledge accumulated through education, experiential learning and other fora and is reliant on a positive experience.

Aims

Women’s knowledge of antenatal and postnatal care was examined, in addition to the positive and negative feelings and experiences they associate with it.

Methods

Employing a mixed methodology, a self-administered questionnaire was distributed to women attending antenatal clinics. It consisted of open and closed questions examining women’s experiences of antenatal care and knowledge of the intrapartum and postnatal journey. Following this, individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight postnatal women gaining further in-depth insight into their peripartum experiences.

Results

Respondents to the questionnaire had varied opinions and beliefs about the purpose of antenatal care and prenatal screening policies, with the majority of their knowledge obtained from non-medical sources. The knowledge of labour and its complications was significantly better in multiparous women. However, in some postnatal scenarios, both cohorts lacked knowledge. In the qualitative study, women described positive feelings with their experience of antenatal care, with women expressing variations in the amount of knowledge they wanted to receive.

Conclusions

This research demonstrates the varied experiences of women attending our services, highlighting both the positive and negative aspects of care. Topics of poor knowledge are highlighted, particularly in primiparous women and regarding the postnatal period. Using this information, women can be provided with an optimised, personalised experience in our maternity services.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Cork University Maternity Hospital, Wilton, Cork, Ireland

    Claire M. McCarthy, Marie Rochford & Keelin O’Donoghue

  2. National Perinatal Epidemiology Centre, Cork University Maternity Hospital, Wilton, Cork, Ireland

    Sarah Meaney

  3. INFANT, Cork University Maternity Hospital, Wilton, Cork, Ireland

    Keelin O’Donoghue

Authors
  1. Claire M. McCarthy
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  2. Marie Rochford
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  3. Sarah Meaney
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  4. Keelin O’Donoghue
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Claire M. McCarthy.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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McCarthy, C.M., Rochford, M., Meaney, S. et al. The pregnancy experience: a mixed methods analysis of women’s understanding of the antenatal journey. Ir J Med Sci 188, 555–561 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-018-1874-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-018-1874-2

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