We are trying to understand the impact of the introduction of mandatory alcohol screening from the perspective of midwives based in the U.K.
You can find more information about the background to the project and what we hope to achieve here.
Our project has two stages: an anonymous survey, followed by a focus group.
The Anonymous Survey
We originally planned for the anonymous survey to run from 21st February 2022 to 31st March 2022. The closing date for the survey was extended to 3rd May 2022. The survey has now closed.
We recruited qualified midwives working (as midwives) in the U.K. to take an anonymous survey.
The questions in our survey asked for information in relation to (A) length of time participants have worked as a midwife in the UK, level of seniority, which areas of the UK they have worked; (B) understanding of current practice regarding alcohol screening in pregnancy; (C) the effect this could have on their relationships with patients; and (E) how this could impact their understanding of their role as a midwife.
The survey took around 15-25 minutes and was completely anonymous. We know that midwives are very busy; to thank participants for their time, they were offered the chance to enter into a prize draw. The original prize draw was for ten prizes of an £40 Love2Shop Highstreet Gift Voucher each. The closing date for the original prize draw was 31st March 2022. As noted, the survey date was extended. We were required to honour the closing date of the original prize draw. We thus ran a second prize draw for those participating in the survey after 31st March 2022. Again, there was ten prizes of an £40 Love2Shop Highstreet Gift Voucher each.
This study was approved by the Faculty Research Ethics Committee (FREC) at the University of Southampton (Ethics/ERGO Number: 70549)
The Online Focus Group
We held an online focus group in late April. The focus group took place on Microsoft Teams.
We aimed to recruit up to seven qualified midwives currently practising as midwives in the UK, including at least one senior midwife and at least one junior midwife.
In the focus group, participants took part in a discussion about antenatal alcohol screening. The focus group took up to 2 hours.
We know that midwives are very busy; to thank participants for their time, they were offered a £50 Love2Shop Highstreet Gift Voucher each.
Recruitment for the focus group is now closed, but if you would like to find out more about the project, please contact: [email protected]
This study was approved by the Faculty Research Ethics Committee (FREC) at the University of Southampton (Ethics/ERGO Number: 70549)