Maternal obesity in the UK is a growing public health problem with clear guidelines regarding gestational weight gain remaining absent within UK maternity services. It is understood that limiting gestational weight gain throughout pregnancy particularly amongst women who are obese at the beginning of their pregnancy can reduce serious health risks to both women and their babies. At present it is unclear how best to deliver maternity services to this specific group of women with guidelines about place of birth and care in labour sending mixed messages to this group of women. The study objective will establish what obese pregnant women understand about weight gain in pregnancy alongside developing an insight into what guidance they seek out and explore key weight-related challenges that they face during this time.
This qualitative study uses 10 semi-structured interviews based within a maternity unit in the South of England. Thematic analysis of the data is currently ongoing alongside the current data collection phase. This iterative process of analysing the data and continuously evolving exploration throughout the data collection phase will enable a genuine insight and emergence of a theory that is representative of the participants’ perspective. The guiding principle has been pragmatic approach throughout this research study and is coherent with the practical element of collecting qualitative data and secondly, understanding that sensitivity alongside an honest straight-forward approach will enable the researcher to glean an insight when gathering qualitative data.
Consent for the study has been sought with obese women 26-28 weeks into their pregnancy and interviews are being held at 32-35 weeks gestation. NHS. Ethics and R&D approval through the Health Research Authority [HRA]) and Bournemouth University (BU) ethical approval have been granted.
This study will provide a deeper understanding of what obese pregnant women find useful and engaging as well as what they find unhelpful is essential in order to deliver optimal, cost effective and sustainable maternity services that supports women appropriately in the future.
My thesis is due to be completed in September therefore study results will be ready in good time for the conference in October. I currently work as a clinical midwife and an academic researcher within the maternity unit that the data collection is being carried out.
My preferred presentation mode would be oral however if there are no available slots then a poster presentation would also be a good opportunity to present my work.
This research has been funded and a collaborative project by Bournemouth University and Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust
1. Studies that integrate knowledge from a range of scientific approaches and/or perspecti
