Midwife-led care (Version 1)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
'MY baby's birth centre'(MY BBC) - developing midwife-led care: an action research study
IRAS ID
144555
Contact name
Joyce Lilian Marshall
Contact email
Research summary
Maternity care in Mid Yorkshire NHS Trust is about to be reorganised to include a midwife-led service within a birth centre. This will involve a major change to the current service that may present both challenges and opportunities to midwives providing the service and to women using it. Therefore the overall aim of this study is to work with all participants, both women and midwives to develop a birth centre that is perceived as safe and realistic and meets the needs of women and their families and is staffed by a motivated, skilled and educated workforce. This will be achieved by conducting an action research study where researchers will work with all participants, women and midwives in such a way that they are fully involved in all aspects of the research process and the eventual outcomes. The initial stage of the work will explore views of the proposed new service and will identify aspects believed to be important and any barriers that might prevent use of the Birth Centre. The research will be carried out in several stages and will involve women who are pregnant or who have had their babies to explore their views of the important aspects of care during labour and birth. It will also involve working with midwives to explore their values that influence practice and care. These views will be gained by carrying out either group or individual interviews. Routinely collected anonymised data will be used to measure a range of outcomes, such as mode of birth, pain relief and episiotomy, at the beginning of the study and at each stage throughout. The study will be conducted over a 12 month period. Each woman will only be invited to participate in one or possibly two interviews but midwives may be involved throughout all stages.
REC name
North of Scotland Research Ethics Committee 1
REC reference
14/NS/1034
Date of REC Opinion
18 Aug 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion