NCT00127361

Study of Having a Female Friend as Labor Support

Evaluation of Continuous Support in Labor

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 600 (planned)
• Sponsor: Saint Peters University Hospital · Academic / Other
• Sex: Female
• Age: 16 Years – 45 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The purpose of this study was to compare labor outcomes in women accompanied by an additional support person (doula group) with outcomes in women who did not have this additional support person (control group). The current study was designed with the benefits of continuous labor support in mind as well as the need for a cost-effective, affordable program to provide those services for low-income women. Its purpose was to evaluate the effects of continuous labor support provided by a female companion of the pregnant person's choosing who, with the mother, had participated in an educational program to teach her how to provide continuous labor support.

Detailed description

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of a female companion in labor who had been chosen by a nulliparous, underinsured, low-income woman and who had received brief training in supportive labor techniques. The objective was to compare labor outcomes, specifically cesarean section rates, in women accompanied by this additional support person (doula group) with outcomes in women who did not have this additional support person (control group).

Conditions

• Pregnancy
• Delivery, Obstetric

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	doula training

Timeline

• Start date: 1998-01-01
• Completion: 2003-02-01
• First posted: 2005-08-05
• Last updated: 2005-08-23

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States