To develop an optimised antenatal education for mothers and staff at North Bristol Trust, to improve maternal preparedness for labour and birth, and improve maternal satisfaction and psychosocial outcomes.

PI: Dr Abi Merriel (PHS)

CACH team: Dr Anna Davies, Dr Emma Anderson

National maternity surveys and reports reveal that a significant number of women report negative experiences of labour and birth, with high rates of stress-related symptoms experienced following intrapartum intervention. Review evidence suggests that women want a positive experience that fulfils or exceeds their prior beliefs and expectations, with practical and emotional support from birth companions, and competent clinical staff. Staff report dissatisfaction with the antenatal education they can provide, and get minimal training to deliver antenatal it, with a focus on giving information rather than preparing women to identify and strengthen personal coping resources for childbirth. ACE aims to develop a patient-focused education intervention for North Bristol Trust, to enable women to develop and deploy effective coping strategies for childbirth, and an intervention for the workforce to enable them to better support patients.

Planned studies include:

1. A national survey of NHS antenatal education programmes to describe current practice
2. A national survey of women and stakeholders to describe experiences and views of current antenatal education.
3. Qualitative interviews with women and staff to identify strengths and weaknesses of current antenatal care provided in North Bristol, and inform development of an optimised education programme.
4. Development of a co-designed intervention.
5. A Pilot randomised controlled trial of the co-designed intervention.

This work is funded by a Health Foundation Innovating for Improvement grant. https://www.health.org.uk/improvement-project/antenatal-care-education-ace-improving-patient-and-staff-experience-through.