School of Nursing & Midwifery Annual Report 2018

Catherine McAuley School of Nursing and Midwifery, UCC

Women’s Experience of Maternity Care in the South/South West Hospital Group

The Story: The aim of this study was to examine women’s experiences of maternity care in the South/South West Hospital Group. A survey was carried out in 2017 where data for Survey One were collected on the postnatal wards of the 4 hospitals. Survey Two questionnaire was posted to participants, to be completed at 12 weeks after the birth of their baby and returned in a stamped addressed envelope provided. The usable response rate for Survey 1 was 71.9% (n=1277) and 46.7% (n=596) for Survey 2. The report was launched in Spring 2019 and key findings were presented in the Ultra newsletter in December 2018 (below). Leahy-Warren, P., O’Connell, R., Corcoran, P., O’Connor, M., Mulcahy, H (2018) Women’s Experience of Maternity Care in the South /South West Hospital Group. School of Nursing & Midwifery: University College Cork The main findings of the survey were positive, women’s satisfaction levels with the services were high in relation to their antenatal, intranatal and postnatal care. Women received information about their pregnancy and had access to a range of services. They were treated with respect and their concerns were generally listened to. Issues of concern were the lack of choice in relation to models of care, such as continuity of care models and the lack of HSE facilitated antenatal classes. Despite the lack of a perinatal mental health service in the area, 80% of women reported being asked about their emotional and mental health however 15% were found to be at risk of postnatal depression. Another area of note was the number of women who in pregnancy, plan to combine breast and formula feeding. A dissemination plan for the project has been devised and a number of peer review papers and presentations are planned.

The Team: Dr Patricia Leahy-Warren (PI), Dr R. O’Connell (co-PI), Dr P. Corcoran, M. O’Connor, Dr H. Mulcahy,

Selected References:

Leahy-Warren, P., O’Connell, R., Corcoran, P., O’Connor, M., Mulcahy, H (2018) Women’s Experience of Maternity Care in the South /South West Hospital Group. School of Nursing & Midwifery: University College Cork.

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