Attitudes of Physicians, Midwives, and Nurses About Doulas: A Scoping Review.

INTRODUCTION: Evidence supports numerous positive clinical benefits of doula care. There are varying attitudes among physicians, midwives, and nurses toward support of doulas in a collaborative approach with women in labor. Tension and conflict with use of doulas may occur in some intrapartum settings in the United States. METHODS: A scoping review of the literature between January 2008 and January 2018 was conducted using PubMed, CINAHL, Google Scholar, and Scopus database to identify specific attitudes of physicians, midwives, and nurses toward doulas; 1,810 records were identified and initially reviewed. Inclusion criteria included original research published in the last 10 years and in the English language. Articles were excluded if the research was not original and if obstetrical providers' or nurses' attitudes toward doulas were not included. RESULTS: Three records met criteria for inclusion. All used a cross-sectional survey design. Two were set in Canada exclusively and one was inclusive of nurses and doulas in both Canada and the United States. Themes emerged that may explain the influence and variances in attitudes toward doulas and the support they provide to laboring women. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: More research is needed to identify attitudes of members of the maternity care team toward doulas and to better understand implications of their attitudes on working together collaboratively and on patient outcomes.

Experiences of early labour management from perspectives of women, labour companions and health professionals: A systematic review of qualitative evidence.

OBJECTIVES: to examine evidence of women's, labour companions' and health professionals' experiences of management of early labour to consider how this could be enhanced to better reflect women's needs. DESIGN: a systematic review of qualitative evidence. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: women in early labour with term, low risk singleton pregnancies, not booked for a planned caesarean birth or post-dates induction of labour, their labour companions, and health professionals responsible for early labour care (e.g. midwives, nurse-midwives, obstetricians, family doctors). Studies from high and middle income country settings were considered. FINDINGS: 21 publications were included from the UK, Ireland, Scandinavia, USA, Italy and New Zealand. Key findings included the impact of communication with health professionals (most usually midwives) on women's decision making; women wanting to be listened to by sympathetic midwives who could reassure that symptoms and signs of early labour were 'normal' and offer clear advice on what to do. Antenatal preparation which included realistic information on what to expect when labour commenced was important and appreciated by women and labour companions. Views of the optimal place for women to remain and allow early labour to progress differed and the perceived benefit of support and help offered by labour companions varied. Some were supportive and helped women to relax, while others were anxious and encouraged women to seek early admission to the planned place of birth. Web-based sources of information are increasingly used by women, with mixed views of the value of information accessed. KEY CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: women, labour companions and health professionals find early labour difficult to manage well, with women unsure of how decisions about admission to their planned place of birth are taken. It is unclear why women are effectively left to manage this aspect of their labour with minimal guidance or support. Tailoring management to meet individual needs, with provision of effective communication could reassure women and facilitate timely admission from perspectives of women, their companions, midwives and other health professionals. Information on labour onset and progress, and approaches to pain management, should be shared with women's labour companions to enable them to feel more confident to better support women. Further research is needed of the impact of different models of care and increasing use of web-based information on women's approaches to self-management when labour commences. PROSPERO 2014 CRD 42014009745.