Perinatal care for pregnant women by midwives targeting wellness

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26463407
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Lifelong developmental nursing
• Research Institution: Kanazawa University
• Principal Investigator: Sekizuka-Kagami Naomi 金沢大学, 保健学系, 准教授 (60334786)
• Research Collaborator: NAKAMURA Hiroyuki 金沢大学, 医学系, 教授 (30231476)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 周産期 / 女性 / ストレス / SOC / ウェルネス

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study investigated whether perinatal care provided by midwives affects the risk of premature delivery and postpartum depression in pregnant women with low sense of coherence scores. Questions were related to basic sociodemographic factors, behavior characteristics, obstetric abnormalities, sense of coherence(SOC), stress perception, postpartum depression, management provided for those at risk for premature delivery during the pregnancy, and whether participants received perinatal care by midwives.
For those with high SOC scores, the percentage of women at risk for premature delivery differed significantly between those who did (36.8%) and those who did not (0%) continue receiving midwife-led care (p＝.011). Continuous perinatal care by midwives may contribute to fewer incidences of premature delivery.

Free Research Field

助産学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

国外の先行研究において，助産師の継続ケアと妊産婦の健康の関連が複数の研究で示されており，助産師による継続ケアの意義が明らかになっているが，日本において助産師の継続ケアと妊産婦の健康の関連を明らかにした研究はほとんど見当たらない。
本研究では，継続ケアを受けていたか否かと切迫早産の関連が明らかになった。すなわち，妊娠期から助産師による継続ケアを受けていた群はそうではない群に比べ，切迫早産の割合が有意に低かった。従って，助産師による妊娠期からの継続ケアの意義が示唆された。切迫早産や周産期うつは妊娠中のストレスとの関連が指摘されていることからも，妊娠中から助産師が継続的に関わることの意義が示せた。