Social support during high-risk pregnancy: does it help?
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to E Hodnett.
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Studies demonstrated that support during labor and birth has a positive impact on childbirth outcomes, and that women reported they received little supportive care from nurses during parturition. This study piloted a work sampling method that was adapted to determine the proportion of time the average intrapartum nurse at a Toronto teaching hospital spends in supportive care activities. Supportive care was operationally defined within four categories of activities: emotional support, physical comfort measures, instruction/information, and advocacy. Work sampling was an effective method of measuring support as a specific aspect of direct intrapartum care. The proportion of time that nurses spent in supportive versus all other activities was 9.9 percent (95% confidence interval 7.5% and 12%), based on a sample of 616 random observations of 18 nurses. Findings are discussed in terms of the social and political factors that affect the meaning and value of the supportive activities of work by obstetric nurses.
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Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Labor support is one of the most important intrapartum nursing functions, with measurable effects on the outcomes of labor and birth. Supportive activities fall within five categories: emotional support, comfort measures, advocacy, supporting the husband/partner, and information/advice. Labor support is a repertoire of techniques the nurse can use to help women during one of the most memorable and personally challenging experiences of their lives.
This article describes the work sampling methodology as a technique to provide direct observational data for the analysis of nursing job design. Work sampling has previously been used to examine the actual work of hospital nurses under the broad categories of direct and indirect care. We assert that work sampling can also be used to examine a specific type of nursing care, and use the example of intrapartum support to illustrate this. The purpose is to discuss the potential for using work sampling as a technique to examine the actual work nurses do and provide data for analysis of nurse job design.
Two Ontario sites were involved in the evaluation of an obstetrical discharge program. Before program implementation a group of eligible women were enrolled as the preprogram control group (n = 542). During the program, eligible women who agreed to early discharge (ED) became the ED group (n = 319), and those opting not to go home early but consenting to participate in the evaluation became the concurrent group (n = 456). All groups were mailed a self-administered postpartum questionnaire. On demographic characteristics, safety and satisfaction, the ED group was comparable to the concurrent group. Hospital readmission rates did not differ across groups after stratification by site or hospital. Multiple classification analyses revealed a similar pattern for overall satisfaction levels. This unique ED program, which allowed pre- or postnatal enrollment and did not require an initial home assessment, appears to be a safe, effective and flexible approach to obstetrical care.