A few days ago we asked you about your experiences with childbirth preparation classes, receiving messages, mostly, of support for that resource.
As we said, in many cases they are working well but, in many others, the expected results do not seem to be obtained.
This conclusion has been reached by a group of midwives from the Basque Country, who have conducted a study to evaluate the results obtained when women attend childbirth preparation classes compared to those who do not attend. The result has been unfavorable and that is why They have stated that these classes should be updated to somehow equip what is explained with what happens.
How was the study done
The study, which has been published in the scientific journal Nursing Research, it has been carried out with data of 616 pregnant women of their first child between the ages of 18 and 42.
Data were compared between women who had attended childbirth preparation classes and those who had not done so and it was taken into account if they arrived at the hospital with already established labor, if they had epidural anesthesia before or after of the active phase of labor, the duration of the dilation and expulsion phase, the anxiety with which the child lived, the type of delivery, the presence or absence of perineal lesions, satisfaction with the experience and the test score Apgar 5 minutes after the baby is born.
What was the results
Spanish women who had attended childbirth preparation classes experienced less anxiety during childbirth than those who had not received them, but nevertheless, women who came from other countries suffered the opposite effect, since they lived in a more anxious way childbirth than those who had not attended classes.
In the rest of the variables no difference was found. Mothers who had attended the courses did not have shorter periods of dilation or expulsion, nor was the proportion of vaginal births higher, nor did they suffer less perineal lesions, nor did they express more satisfaction than the other mothers, nor was a better physical condition observed in Babies at 5 minutes of birth.
What conclusions did they reach?
After observing these results, they concluded that something had to be done to improve the influence of prepaid classes.
In the last decades the way of giving birth has changed a lot and, nevertheless, the childbirth preparation classes seem to have remained anchored in the past. This is confirmed above all in the data that were obtained at the time of starting to offer these courses, when the benefits were very evident and studies showed that the interventions were effective, however, over time, the results have been getting worse to the point of not serving much when giving birth.
We must take into account, to assess the results with all the cards on the table, which until recently and even now in many centers, The act of giving birth has been a procedure governed by very strict protocols that have given mothers little power to make decisions.
The day you can give birth with little or no intervention, women will be more free to act according to their wishes, their skills and knowledge (acquired or not in class) and perhaps that day the results of these studies are different.
In any case, the midwives author of the study point out the need to make changes, taking advantage of the fact that the level of assistance of future mothers to these courses is very high, to offer, not only information about the time of giving birth, but also about the newborn, parenting, breastfeeding or about their knowledge of pregnancy, since it has been observed, in other studies, an obvious improvement in these issues.
