Bladder Care Clinical Trial
Official title:
Women's Experiences of Maternity Bladder Care
Background.
Although a healthy urinary system is a vital aspect in every woman's life, bladder management
is an aspect of maternity care, which is, or perceived as, being poorly managed by health
care professionals. Furthermore, although the relationship between childbirth and bladder
dysfunction is an incontestable fact very well documented in the medical literature, women's
experiences of bladder care have not been recognized by the evidence, and therefore, no
research has been developed to address this topic. This fact implies a limited level of
awareness and degree of implication from women in this matter.
Research question.
What are women's experiences, perceptions and knowledge of bladder care during the
antepartum, intrapartum and postpartum period?
Aim.
To explore women's experiences of bladder care during the antepartum, intrapartum and
postpartum period.
Design.
Exploratory, descriptive research study.
Population.
Women who have given birth to a singleton, live, term baby between two weeks and six months
prior the study, and who meet the inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Methods.
In-depth semi-structured interviews.
Sample.
A purposive sample of eight to sixteen women, with a heterogeneous representation of the
different modes of birth, will be sought.
Recruitment.
Postnatal midwives will act as gatekeepers identifying potential participants and providing
information packs. Other recruitment resources will include posters and a study website,
which will be advertised at local maternity groups.
Data collection.
Semi-structure interviews to gain a deep understanding of women's experiences of maternity
bladder care. Interviews will last between thirty minutes to a couple of hours and they will
be digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim.
Data Analysis.
Framework analysis assisted by memoing technique.
Ethical considerations.
Ethical approval from the Sponsor and the Health Research Authority will be sought.
n/a