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MSWJC September: Social media in pregnancy

20 September 2024

A very common theme currently under scrutiny within perinatal care is informed choice of birthing people and ensuring that this is safeguarded. For those of us who work in an intrapartum setting, the birth plan can be an incredibly useful tool – it can provide birthing people and their families the opportunity to express their wishes and exert a sense of control when very little can be felt, additionally it can help professionals understand those wishes in a structured way. The study we’re looking at interviewed birthing people, their partners and healthcare professionals about the impact that birthing plans can have on birthing experiences.

Analysis Points

This study lost 36% of the initial group identified due to them not having used a birth plan. Do you think that this is an accurate representation of how many people utilise birth plans? The birthing people cohort were recruited between March-April 2021, whilst the partners were recruited between December 2021-February 2022 and the healthcare professionals were recruited February-May 2022. Does this affect the quality of the data collected as they were not taken from the same groups? Looking at those dates, do you think that the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on people’s abilities to make decisions about their care? Would that affect people’s choices to use /experiences when using birthing plans?

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