Information and relational continuity needs of women can be met using professionally moderated, social media based groups. They may provide an alternative means of facilitating the continuity that is so often lacking in traditional models of care.
ObjectivesThe COVID-19 pandemic has seen unprecedented restrictions on face-to-face healthcare encounters. This has led to an increase in the use of online healthcare resources by service users. Pregnant women have always been a group particularly motivated to seek out information online. The objective of this study was to explore the experiences of mothers who were using an existing National Health Service social media based antenatal support service during the early stages of the UK COVID-19 lockdown.DesignA short online survey with four closed questions (scale response) and one open-ended free-text question was given to pregnant women who were using the online service 3 weeks after the start of the UK lockdown. Descriptive statistics are used to present the closed question data. Thematic analysis was applied to the free-text responses.Results320 women were sent the survey. 156 completed it (49% response rate). Participants provided information relating to frequency of use, information access, relative level of antenatal care and ease of contact. 105 (66%) participants completed the open-ended free-text question. Key themes to emerge related to: (1) information provision and verification; (2) managing and reducing feelings of isolation; (3) service specific issues, including crisis adaptations; and (4) impact on routine care.ConclusionsThe study suggests that that pregnant mothers found a social media based approach well positioned to provide antenatal care and support during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ti t l eMi d wif e-m o d e r a t e d s o ci al m e di a g r o u p s a s a v alid a t e d info r m a tio n s o u r c e for w o m e n d u ri n g p r e g n a n cy
Background Continuity of mentorship is central to students' clinical placement experience. Despite a plethora of studies investigating student-mentor relationships and how it affects grading, limited attention has been paid to the extent to which a lack of continuity of mentorship affects placement experience. Aims To explore the importance of mentor continuity on labour ward for pre-registration midwifery students. Methods A database search was conducted using the terms: ‘student midwives’, ‘continuity’, ‘mentor’, ‘preceptor’, ‘mentorship’, ‘labour ward’, ‘delivery suite’ and ‘experiences.’ Findings Continuity of mentorship enhances learning and improves clinical practice experience. Conclusions A lack of continuity affects all aspects of student midwives’ experiences of the labour ward. Good mentor practice should focus on continuity and the introduction of co-mentoring, where a student is mentored by at least 2 midwives, in order to reduce the strain on mentors while retaining the feeling of belonging that student midwives value.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.