Olloqui-Mundet MJ, Cavia MDM, Alonso-Torre SR, Carrillo C. Nutrition education in the midwife consultation room. A cross sectional survey in Spain.
Midwifery 2024;
139:104150. [PMID:
39260127 DOI:
10.1016/j.midw.2024.104150]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/24/2023] [Revised: 08/04/2024] [Accepted: 08/18/2024] [Indexed: 09/13/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Diet during pregnancy is a key factor in the success of pregnancy. However, several studies have found pregnant women have low adherence to dietary recommendations. The midwife is a key health professional to provide nutrition education for pregnant women. Thus, it is important to know in detail her role in this respect.
AIM
To explore how Spanish midwives undertake nutrition education in order to assess the need for specific interventions aimed at improving the health of pregnant women.
METHODS
A cross-sectional descriptive observational study was undertaken using an online questionnaire (466 responses).
FINDINGS
Spanish midwives recognise the importance of nutrition in pregnancy and that advising pregnant women in this regard is part of their role. In fact, all community midwives discuss nutrition to pregnant women, although they recognise that they do not feel particularly comfortable in dealing with certain topics, which could be related to a lack of mastery of the subjects. Midwives (56.5 %) rated the nutrition training their received as poor.
CONCLUSION
In order to guarantee the quality in the nutrition education provided by Spanish midwives to promote the health of pregnant women, our results demonstrate the importance of strengthening both the nutrition content of midwives' training programmes and the ongoing support they receive throughout their professional life.
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