Talking to pregnant women about stillbirth: Evaluating the effectiveness of an information workshop for midwives using pre and post intervention surveys

Objective: The project aimed to establish the level of knowledge a group of midwives had about risk factors for stillbirth and identify their current willingness to raise and discuss stillbirth with pregnant women during standard antenatal care. Design: Surveys were administered pre and post an education intervention. The intervention consisted of a half day education workshop. A change in knowledge pre and post intervention was measured as a means to determine the effectiveness of the workshop. Settings: The workshop first provided participants with up-to-date information about modifiable and preventative risk factors for stillbirth and then provided them with the opportunity to practice a range of strategies to assist them to becoming confident in raising and discussing the topic of stillbirth. Participants: Three workshops were offered and a total of 109 qualified midwives attended. Methods: In order to explore the level of knowledge increase and retention of knowledge about stillbirth as well as participants willingness to discuss stillbirth with pregnant women, comparisons were made between the pre workshop survey responses and those given to the two follow-up surveys immediately following and 3. months after the workshop. Results: There was a statistically significant improvement in knowledge about stillbirth as well as in participant willingness to engage the pregnant women in their care in a conversation about stillbirth. Key Conclusions: Providing a workshop on stillbirth for registered midwives is quite effective in raising their awareness about stillbirth. However, before substantial changes can be made in stillbirth awareness, ways and means to sensitively promote public awareness of stillbirth need to be explored and anxieties and taboos addressed. Research could explore whether or not a stillbirth awareness message actually does make women anxious, and if so the nature of this anxiety and how this anxiety might best be ameliorated.