Mobilizing women to change maternity services: a cluster randomized control study

Tamar Kabakian-Khasholian, American University of Beirut
Rawan Shayboub, American University of Beirut
Faysal El-Kak, American University of Beirut
Mona Kanaan, University of York
Ziyad Mahfoud, American University of Beirut

This study measures the effect of mobilizing women, through communication skills in prenatal sessions, on their demand to change maternity practices and on actual practice changes. It is a cluster randomized control trial where women were recruited from obstetrician's clinics during their last trimester of pregnancy in two regions of Lebanon. A baseline phone interview was followed by two intervention prenatal group sessions. Outcome assessment was done by postpartum home interviews. Data on 313 women were collected. The intervention improved women's demand for not undergoing enema and pubic shaving, to see their newborn by 2 hours of birth and to keep him/her longer in their rooms. Women's knowledge improved in the intervention group but satisfaction was poor. The results suggest the possibility of changing women's behaviors and affecting actual services by providing women with information about labor and delivery practices and giving them the skills to negotiate the care they receive.