Emotional Support during labor CAN’T be overlooked
Full citation: Kennell, J., Klaus, M., McGrath, S., Robertson, S., & Hinkley, C. (1991). Continuous Emotional Support During Labor in a US Hospital. JAMA, 265(17), 2197-2201.
Attention all doulas out there: this is something you really need to read. It’s one of my favorite studies of all time, actually. I discovered it in Nursing School when I was writing a report on health care policy measures which could be used to lower our abysmally high c-section rate. This study found that the importance of continuous emotional support during labor cannot be overemphasized, which isn’t really news to a midwife or doula, but is something that many doctors tend to overlook, not to mention many of our hospitals, and the field of obstetrics in general. We have whole systems devoted to the get ‘em in, get ‘em delivered, get ‘em out approach, with a lot of time and attention spent on interventions which allegedly speed up birth, such as inductions and the judicious use of pitocin, and of course, there’s the misguided idea that a cesarean is actually a safer, faster, healthier option than a vaginal birth (as our growing elective primary c-section rate would attest). What this study found was that continuous emotional support during labor not only lowered the c-section rate, but also shortened the length of labor, and even lowered the epidural rate. Pretty powerful stuff! (Read on …)
