The Usefulness of Parent Craft Classes in Reducing the Fears - Research Proposal Example

Do Women Attending Parent craft es Have an Easier Time during Delivery? A Research Proposal of the of the Do Women Attending Parent craft Classes Have an Easier Time during Delivery? Abstract The process of delivering a child is one of the most important roles that a female can play in society, and it is this role that makes her a mother. Despite all of the advances of medical science we have not yet managed to replicate the womb. That is why even today, surrogate motherhood has to be resorted to if some couples hope to have a child of their own. The processes of fertilization, conception, pregnancy and delivery are fraught with complications. Even in the process of delivery, the female is worried whether she will have a normal or a cesarean delivery involving surgical procedures. The typical cesarean delivery leaves the mother weak and she has to take time and effort to recuperate from her labors. Apart from that, the pain of the surgical procedure makes women dread the prospect of a normal delivery and they would like to do anything to avoid it. This paper focuses on the usefulness and value of parent craft classes in reducing the fears of the females awaiting delivery, by arming them with the required knowledge and confidence in going through even a cesarean delivery. A sample of 30 females awaiting delivery were surveyed and interviewed at a local hospital to get an idea of how much attending parent craft classes helped in assuaging their fears of even a normal delivery. Background The process of childbirth is still one of the world’s scientific miracles. Though medical science has progressed in great strides along this path, we still marvel at the intricacies of fertilization, conception and delivery. There are so many different variables and intrinsic and extrinsic factors that can affect the entire process that it is a wonder nevertheless how the whole process goes from start to finish. We have managed feats like invitro-fertilization, test tube babies, cloning, surrogate parenthood and what not, yet there is no disputing the fact that the process of pregnancy is still one of nature’s modern miracles. Medical science may take all the wait and wonder out of the process, even regarding the sex of the child, and reduce it to mechanical principles, but that does in no way reduce its importance. The delivery of a new born child after nine months in its mother’s womb is no less of an event- in fact it is the culmination of the entire process of pregnancy and the result is a healthy breathing baby that is ready to add its voice to the world. Deliveries can be touch and go, from the simple to the complex, and that is why doctors, surgeons and gynaecologists spend months preparing the would-be mothers in all aspects from diet to exercise and rest, to noting the signs that delivery is imminent. As midwives, we are part and parcel of the delivery process and clients even confide some of their personal feelings and apprehensions regarding delivery and its complications to the surgeon or the midwife as delivery time comes near. Many are concerned about the chances of a normal delivery as compared to a caesarean one, and this remains one of their chief concerns. This paper will show the importance of parent craft classes in reducing the fears and apprehensions of the would–be mother and helping her manage the delivery process in a much more knowledgeable and ready manner. In recent decades, as medical science progressed and customer service and care took on an increasingly important role, involving one or both parents in the process of delivery and pre-natal and post-natal care also became more important. In fact you would be hard pressed to find a hospital in the UK these days that does not impress upon first time parents, the need for Lamaze and Parent Craft classes. The importance in the nuclear family is all the more accentuated, as the new parents have less help and almost no experience to fall back on in case of issues regarding infant care and health. At the very least, even some knowledge of parent craft classes attended will help assuage the fears of the mothers to be, and help them understand and handle the pressures of delivery in a more intelligent and calm manner. Literature Review Parent craft classes in the UK are an important part of the delivery process and focuses on preparing both parents, but especially the mother, on what to expect during pregnancy and the delivery process in particular. It is quite likely that first time couples seeking to have a child have read quite a bit on the process of pregnancy and childbirth. However parent craft classes give them an opportunity to discover a few truths, correct a few myths and reduce a lot of fear and anxiety about the delivery process. Parent craft classes are usually conducted in the third trimester, starting 10 weeks before delivery, in hourly or two hourly sessions in the evenings and consist of everything from getting to know the departments of the hospital, to managing pelvic and back pain and caring for the pregnant mother, how to breathe and control contractions, breastfeeding and post natal care. Most women have found it positive and helpful, even if it just reiterates most of what they have already read and know from others’ experiences. I have found that many pregnant females are nevertheless worried if they do not get to attend parent craft classes, as most hospitals are booked up in advance. Other alternatives are to get classes privately or through the National Childbirth Trust (www.nhs.uk) O’Hare and Fallon (2011) report that women gave both positive and negative comments regarding the control of pain during childbirth, and it is the duty of the midwife to play a greater role in preparing pregnant women for delivery from a physical, mental and psychological standpoint. The process of childbirth described to Eve in the Holy Bible after their banishment from the Garden of Eden is rather prophetic. It states that Eve shall have to bear children in pain. It does not talk about C-sections, but just normal pregnancy. Any of us who has witnessed the birth of a child gives testament to the fact that pregnancy is indeed a marvelous process and involves considerable pain and sacrifice to be borne by the mother in the process of carriage and delivery of the child. Even as delivery approaches and the contractions become more rhythmic, they also increase in severity. Eventually the time of delivery is on hand and the mother gives birth amid screams, grunts and ministrations of the midwives on hand. Philips and Haley (1998) report that when it comes to high risk deliveries, it is all the more important for the entire set of doctors, surgeons and midwives to be integrated as one team in order to manage the delivery successfully and with a minimum of complications. In this case a well considered program of instruction to be developed by experts is also recommended for educational purposes, both for team participants and at nursing libraries. A normal delivery is definitely more painful than a C-section. In a C-section, the baby is removed through an incision in the stomach, from which access to the womb is available. Normal delivery can be painful. Meanwhile the reasons for C-sections are many and can span anything from late pregnancies to complicated ones, position of baby in the womb prior to delivery, age factor and weakness of the mother to push the baby through, large size of the baby etc. While most people opt to give delivery under C-section, normal deliveries are dreaded because of the pain and long recovery process after the delivery. It typically takes between 3 to 6 months for a normal delivery mother to be completely recovered from the experience (www.kidshealth.org). However preparing the mother for the event of delivery through parent craft classes at the hospital has been shown to reduce the anxiety and fear connected with normal delivery, and even make for better prepared C-section deliveries. This is the need of the hour, say doctors in the USA, since the rates of C-section births are today as high as 25 percent of all births being recorded. As people age, higher are the chances of delivery by C-section, barring other complications (www.pregnancytoday.com). Induced labor also leads to C-section deliveries (Mozes, 2011). Significance of the Problem Childbirth and delivery is a large part of what a midwife has to handle on a day to day basis. It is not the same for the parents of a child however, especially first time parents, as any midwife will tell you. Generally it is seen that a couple expecting their first child will be one of the most concerned of all, frequently calling up and discussing different problems and scenarios with their doctor or gynecologist. To avoid problems at a later date, a pregnant female is required to register with a hospital having maternity facilities well in advance, sometimes soon after the pregnancy has been confirmed. In this way proper treatment and monitoring of both mother and child can be done regularly or as the doctor deems fit, with proper attention also being given to diet, weight, changes in hormonal balances and other conditions that can accompany and complicate any pregnancy. Ultrasound is also done from time to time to check the growth and position of the baby in the womb. The frequency of visits is usually once a month in the first and second trimesters, but this can increase to once every fortnight in the last trimester and even to every week in the last month before delivery is imminent. It is a common occurrence to see a female all perturbed and not knowing quite what to expect during her first pregnancy and delivery process. Even the best knowledge cannot be a substitute for experience and this is nowhere more true than the first delivery. To tackle this issue, many hospitals in both the public and private sector in the UK direct that parents should take part in parent craft classes. Previous studies into the concerns of childbirth have indicated that worries about caesarean delivery are one of the topmost concerns of a first time mother. This is because she has no idea about how to handle it. On the other hand, groups of well meaning females may give tons of advice, but this may tend to confuse her further and she may feel helpless. In this circumstance, many females turn to their mothers or their gynecologists and even midwives in order to sort out their fears and seek comfort. There are also a number of analgesics that are available to reduce and control pain, but this can only be given under the advice of a doctor (www.acog.org). Knowledge is power and the medical community is in agreement that there is much value in attending parent craft classes during the pregnancy for both parents-to- be. The father-to-be can play an important role in handling his wife’s fears especially if they are unfounded or out of control. Studying a group of mothers to be and noting their concerns and feelings before, during and after completing parent craft classes will bring out the importance and value of these classes in contributing towards reducing their fears and making them more confident and ready to face the delivery process. In this way it is hoped that the study will contribute to an understanding of midwifery practice and further clarify the role that a midwife can play in such a circumstance. In fact this study builds on previous research by who found that parent craft classes made both parents more involved in the process, and also helped the father see how he could aid his wife in facing the apprehensions of delivery, whether normal or caesarean (www.about.com). Aims of the Proposed Study The aims of this study are to recognize and appreciate the role of parent craft classes in both the public and private sector in the UK and signify its importance as a regular practice benefitting pre-natal and post-natal care. The question to be answered specifically will be whether parent craft classes have a positive role to pay in reducing the fears of pregnant women awaiting delivery especially those who fear a delivery by normal process (www.pregnancytoday.com). Plan of Investigation Since I want to know the role that attending parent craft classes take in addressing and reducing the fears of pregnant women, I intend to take interviews and surveys of a group of women who have delivered babies and who have attended parent classes during their pregnancy. Both the surveys and the interviews will be personally administered by me at the hospital premises. In certain cases I expect that people will be reluctant for an interview out in the open so I will have to ask the hospital administration for the use of a spare room for the purpose of conducting interviews. I will first introduce myself, state my purpose and ask if they would be willing to participate in my project. In case they say OK, I will ask all the respondents to fill out the survey there and then, since that will not take more than a few minutes. I will then get the completed survey immediately on hand and go through it to get their thoughts and feelings. Where I get to meet pregnant females at the hospital on more friendly terms, I will ask them for an Interview. In this way I will get both a cursory review as well as a more detailed picture of the usefulness and value of parent craft classes in reducing the fears of pregnant females especially during delivery. Research Design As far as the design of the research is concerned, it is clear that more value will given to the qualitative aspect of the study. This is because I want to know how much the attending of parent craft classes contributed to both parents in understanding their roles during the pregnancy and the delivery process and whether the classes really contributed to reducing the fears of the females even when faced with the certainty of a delivery by cesarean section. I will use rating scales for this purpose. This will be phenomenology related because I am trying to find about the usefulness and feelings of all pregnant women who have attended parent craft classes at the hospital, regardless of ethnic background. As far as the population and sample are concerned, I would consider a population of 100 pregnant females awaiting delivery and a sample size of 30 to be more than sufficient for the purposes of my study. This is because by using this sample size, I will have covered nearly one-third of all the population of a normal sized maternity ward in my area during the space of a month. In order to gain access, I shall get a letter from my institution stating that this is a required assignment for my midwifery practice in the UK. This is normally arranged through the professor concerned or the Administration Office. Regarding the processes for data collection and analysis, as I have already indicated, a combination of survey and interview will be used. Both the questionnaire and the interview will focus on the feelings of the respondents, as to how far did attending parent craft classes make a difference in helping them cope with delivery problems especially in case of normal deliveries. The use of a rating scale as well as personal data regarding the age, social status, location and education of the respondents will also help judge how parent craft classes are being perceived in the UK among different sections of the population (Tull & Hawkins, 1993). Work Plan Developing the Research Question: 1 week Conducting a Literature Review: 2 weeks Developing Research Design Tools and Methodology: 1 week Conducting the Research using the Tools Created: 1 week Gathering and Analyzing the Data: 2 days Getting the Results and Findings in Place: 3 days Writing the Final Report: 1 week Ethical Considerations The scope and topic of the research is rather personal and sensitive, and would need careful handling. Some females simply do not want to talk about their pregnancy and its related issues and this is to be expected. I would have to introduce myself to each potential candidate to be included in the sample, explain my role and purpose and see the reaction before I could go on to take her responses. This is keeping in view the code of conduct and practice of the Nursing and Midwifery Council, UK (www.nmc-uk.org). Of course I would have to ensure some amount of privacy which might be difficult in a hospital premises. On the other hand a telephonic discussion would hardly be feasible, considering the sensitiveness of the topic at hand. I would have to assure the client that her name would never be mentioned in the report, and confidentiality of information would be ensured. I would have to give a copy of the report to the respondents so that they could see that I had upheld their requests for confidentiality. In some cases I expect that I would have to convince all the caregivers and parents of the couple involved before taking their interview or survey to be included in the report. Issues of confidentiality, anonymity, dealing with sensitive issues, protection of the client, informed consent- all are expected to be encountered in the process of this assignment. Facilities & Resources Besides the requisite permissions, I estimate that I would need to spend some time developing the format and questions for the survey as well as the interview questionnaire. I plan to also use a tape recording of the interview for recall purposes, after asking the permission of the client of course. This can speed up the process of taking the interview, as less time is spent transcribing at the Interview premises. The respondent also feels at ease and is less embarrassed. Except for word processing and photocopying costs for the interview and survey forms, which should not be too expensive, I think I will be able to cover it up from internship and allowance money. The final stage will require some analysis for which MATLAB, SPSS and other packages are available at the local library. 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Pregnancy Today. www.pregnancytoday.com. Accessed on 26 Mar 2011. Mozes. A. (2011). Induced labor linked to raised risks for first time moms. Medline Plus. Midwifery Council, UK. The Code in Practice. www.nmc-uk.org. Accessed on 26 Mar 2011. NHS Planner. Your NHS Guide to Having a Baby. Antenatal Care. http://www.nhs.uk/Planners/pregnancycareplanner/Pages/Antenatalclasses.aspx. Accessed 26 Mar 2011. O’Hare, J. & Fallon, A. (2011). Women’s Experience of Control in Labor and Childbirth. British Journal of Midwifery, Vol. 19, Issue 3, pp 164-169. Philips, M. & Haley, J. (2008). Preparation of Midwives for High Risk Antenatal Care. British Journal of Midwifery, Vol.6 , Issue 10, pp 635-638. Powell, A. A C-Section Baby Boom. Pregnancy Today. www.pregnancytoday.com. Accessed on 26 Mar 2011. RightHealth. What is a C-Section? www.righthealth.com. Accessed on 26 Mar 2011. Tull, D. & Hawkins, D. (1993). Methods in Business Research, 6th ed. Prentice Hall. Weiss, R.E. Myths About Natural Childbirth. www.about.com. Accessed on 26 Mar 2011. Read More