Search

Objective To review trials of the effectiveness of interventions aimed at improving communication between health professionals and women in maternity care. Search strategy The electronic databases Medline, PsycLit, The Cochrane Library, BIDS Science and Social Science Indexes, Cinahl and Embase were searched. Final searches were carried out in April 2000. Inclusion criteria Controlled trials of interventions explicitly aimed at improving communication between health professionals and women in maternity care were included. Other trials were included where two reviewers agreed that this was at least part of the aim. Data extraction and synthesis 95 potentially eligible papers were identified, read by one reviewer and checked against the inclusion criteria. The 11 included trials were read, assessed for quality and summarized in a structured tabular form. Results The included trials evaluated interventions to improve the presentation of information about antenatal testing, to promote informed choice in maternity care, woman-held maternity records and computer-based history taking. Four trials in which women were provided with extra information about antenatal testing in a variety of formats suggested that this was valued by women and may reduce anxiety. Communication skills training for midwives and doctors improved their information giving about antenatal tests. The three trials of woman-held maternity records suggested that these increase women's involvement in and control over their care. Conclusions The trials identified by this review addressed limited aspects of communication and focused solely on antenatal care. Further research is required in several areas, including trials of communication skills training for health professionals in maternity care and other interventions to improve communication during labour and in the postnatal period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Millennium Cohort Study of 18,818 UK babies born in 2000-02 interviewed parents when the baby was 9 months old. Time constraints on the interview limited the amount of health-related questions that could be included. The aim of this study was to augment interview data with information from birth registrations and hospital records. It also provided an opportunity to assess the accuracy of the data acquired and parents' recall of the information on pregnancy and delivery. Deterministic and probabilistic matching were used to obtain information from birth registration and hospital records. Investigation into the accuracy of the matches obtained was undertaken. The records received were checked for range, consistency and completion. Birth registration data were obtained for 99% of those who gave consent. The number of additional variables gained ranged from six in Northern Ireland to 16 in Scotland. Hospital record data were obtained for 83% of those who gave consent. The additional general and maternity-related variables gained ranged from 55 in Scotland to 76 in England. Completion of available health record variables ranged from 28% to 100% across all UK countries. Linkage to birth registration and hospital records in order to augment Millennium Cohort Study data with routinely collected data was successful. The variables gained by linkage have added considerable value to the cohort study and validated some of the mother's responses.