The Effect of Video Education on Skin-to-Skin at the Time of Delivery

Despite strong support of breastfeeding by organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American Academy of Family Physicians, the rate of breastfeeding initiation at the time of delivery and continuation at 6 months postpartum is below the Center of Disease Prevention's Healthy People 2010 goals (1). UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) have estimated that if all babies were breastfed for a minimum of the first six months of their lives, the rate of morbidity and malnutrition would significantly decrease all over the world (2). The benefits of breastfeeding are numerous for both mothers and infants, with infants obtaining optimal nutrition and passive immunity, and mothers obtaining a more rapid return of postpartum uterine tone, postpartum weight loss, delay of ovulation, and decreased risk of breast, ovarian, and endometrial cancers (3). As a result of this information, in 1991 WHO and UNICEF launched the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) to encourage proper infant feeding practices starting at birth. It is based on ten steps, which the hospital must meet and maintain to obtain certification. In support of Step Four of the BFHI to "help mothers initiate breastfeeding within one hour of birth," the skin-to-skin variation of Kangaroo Mother Care was initiated (4).

Kangaroo position, or skin to skin contact (SSC) on a mother's chest, provides thermoregulation, physiological stability, appropriate stimulation, and encourages bonding and breastfeeding (5). In fact, early SSC was significantly associated with type of feeding at discharge through 3 months postpartum (6). Regrettably, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, some obstacles to SSC and breastfeeding include insufficient prenatal education, disruptive obstetrical practices, and a lack of family and societal support (7). Delivery room and postpartum hospital routines may also significantly disrupt early maternal-infant interactions (8). These barriers to breastfeeding and SSC are more prevalent amongst vulnerable groups, which includes low income, low educational level, and black populations. While effective initiatives such as BFHI are present in hospital settings, guidelines for primary care based interventions originating in a clinician's office currently do not exist (3). Through encouraging education regarding SSC before the time of delivery, patients can actively participate in SSC during delivery and advocate for early SSC (9).

Education can easily influence behavior habits and does not need to require special difficulties on behalf of providers (9). In fact, educational programs have the single greatest effect of any single intervention on both initiation and short term duration for breastfeeding (3). Women who attended breastfeeding classes with lactation consultants - with or without video supplementation - had significantly increased breastfeeding at six months when compared to controls (1). Currently, common office practices include provision of written materials and discharge packets. Neither practice has been shown to be effective in increasing rates of breastfeeding. On the contrary, discharge packets have been shown to reduce the rates of breastfeeding (3). Ideally, breastfeeding education would use both individual or group sessions where both benefits of breastfeeding and SSC would be discussed (10). However, in a busy clinic setting filled with a vulnerable patient population, having the ability to get to extra educational classes is not always an option.

Regardless of amount of prenatal education provided, Southview Medical Center will study participating patients at the time of admission for delivery who watch an 8 minutes 52 second patient education DVD titled "Jumping into Kangaroo Care" by the Ohio Department of Health. Of importance, studies so far have shown no clear pattern for the outcome of breastfeeding in respect to intervention timing (7). In an analysis regarding video modeling, patients who viewed videotapes regarding treatment options had a greater understanding of the risks and benefits of those choices and were more apt to be active participants in decision making (11). Audio-visual material can also be entertaining and can be used by those who have limited literacy. Moreover, the information provided to patients on video has the advantage of being repeatable and consistent, which would allow us to provide the same information to all of our patients (12). By educating patients in a video format at the beginning of their delivery admission, patients will have time to formulate questions and opinions to help them engage in an active dialogue with the staff that will be preforming the delivery. The goal of educating mothers is not only to increase their knowledge and skills but also to influence their attitudes (13). By providing a video which models SSC to all non-emergent anticipated vaginal deliveries upon admission to the hospital, the investigators' hope is to encourage patients to actively participate in SSC at the time of delivery and become their own advocates.

The main purpose of this study is to determine the effect of prenatal video education on pregnant women's intention to practice SSC after birth. This study is critical as quality measures for Southview Medical Center for quarter one of 2017 showed that the hospital has only been 50% successful at initiating skin to skin in vaginal deliveries after 37 weeks gestation with a 5 minute APGAR of 7. The hospital's goal per BFHI is 82%. The investigators' hypothesis is that 30% or more women who did not plan to use SCC would indicate their intention to use SSC post-intervention as compared to those who did not receive the intervention.