Women's Experiences of Maternity Bladder Care

Background.

Although a healthy urinary system is a vital aspect in every woman's life, bladder management is an aspect of maternity care, which is, or perceived as, being poorly managed by health care professionals. Furthermore, although the relationship between childbirth and bladder dysfunction is an incontestable fact very well documented in the medical literature, women's experiences of bladder care have not been recognized by the evidence, and therefore, no research has been developed to address this topic. This fact implies a limited level of awareness and degree of implication from women in this matter.

Research question.

What are women's experiences, perceptions and knowledge of bladder care during the antepartum, intrapartum and postpartum period?

Aim.

To explore women's experiences of bladder care during the antepartum, intrapartum and postpartum period.

Design.

Exploratory, descriptive research study.

Population.

Women who have given birth to a singleton, live, term baby between two weeks and six months prior the study, and who meet the inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Methods.

In-depth semi-structured interviews.

Sample.

A purposive sample of eight to sixteen women, with a heterogeneous representation of the different modes of birth, will be sought.

Recruitment.

Postnatal midwives will act as gatekeepers identifying potential participants and providing information packs. Other recruitment resources will include posters and a study website, which will be advertised at local maternity groups.

Data collection.

Semi-structure interviews to gain a deep understanding of women's experiences of maternity bladder care. Interviews will last between thirty minutes to a couple of hours and they will be digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim.

Data Analysis.

Framework analysis assisted by memoing technique.

Ethical considerations.

Ethical approval from the Sponsor and the Health Research Authority will be sought.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Bladder Care
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Semi-structured interviews

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 9

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United Kingdom
  • Hampshire
    • Southampton, Hampshire, United Kingdom, SO17 1BJ
      • University of Southampton

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: Female

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

The target population is women who have received antepartum, intrapartum and postpartum care at the designated hospital and have birthed a live singleton, term baby (37-42 weeks gestation) between two weeks to six months prior to the interview.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Women who have received antepartum, intrapartum and postpartum care at the designated hospital.
• Women who have given birth to a live singleton, term (37 to 42 weeks gestation) infant between two weeks and six months ago at the designated hospital.
• Women who have been identified and received the information pack by the named postnatal midwife. Alternatively, potential participants can also get included in the study after being self-referred through local maternity groups (posters, leaflets, (PDF file) webpages and study website).

Exclusion Criteria:

• Women and newborns with serious medical/life threatening conditions (pre-existing mental health, neurological, uro-genital conditions, pregnancy related complications and/or newborn related conditions, such us, preterm delivery, fetal abnormalities, admission to the neonatal unit and poor condition at birth).
• Women who have experienced a stillbirth, neonatal death or traumatic birth.
• Women who are not fluent in English, although Spanish participants will be included as the main researcher is fluent in both languages.
• Women under the age of eighteen.
• Women who are unable to be interviewed due to cognitive impairment or disabilities.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Women's experiences of bladder care during the antepartum, intrapartum and postpartum period	Qualitative semi-structured interviews performed at one occasion where the participant describes her experience of bladder care during pregnancy, labour and after birth.	day 1

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Southampton
• Collaborators: National Institute for Health Research, United Kingdom
• Investigators: Study Chair: Dr Ellen Kitson-Reynolds, University of Southampton; Principal Investigator: Veronica Blanco-Gutierrez, University of Southampton

Publications and helpful links

Helpful Links

• study website

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): July 25, 2016
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 30, 2017
• Study Completion (Actual): June 30, 2017

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 7, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 13, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): March 20, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 13, 2017
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 10, 2017
• Last Verified: July 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: pregnancy; postpartum; labour; pelvic floor; women's experiences; bladder care
• Other Study ID Numbers: 19544

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No