The actual situation and factors influencing the implementation of care for hiesho by nursing staff handling health check-ups for pregnant women

Abstract

Purpose

To elucidate the current state of care for hiesho and analyze factors that affect the relevant implementation of care.

Method

The study design was a quantitative descriptive research. The investigation was carried out over approximately 2 months, during October and November of 2017. The research field included facilities all over Japan that were handling childbirth (hospitals, clinics, maternity homes), and the research participants were nursing staff members who had been handling health check-ups of pregnant women for three years or more. As a tool for measurement, we used an anonymous self-administered questionnaire. Furthermore, this study was conducted with the approval of the ethics committee of the institutions with which the researchers are affiliated, and by sufficiently ensuring ethical considerations (Approval No.: A170900006).

Results

The study recruited a total of 2,694 participants, of which 733 were ultimately part of the analysis (recovery rate of 27.5%, effective response rate of 98.8%). Out of the entire sample, those who were actively caring for hiesho made up 44.1%, while 55.0% of participants had experience learning about hiesho. As factors affecting the implementation of care for hiesho, we adopted five items, namely the experience of learning about hiesho (odds ratio [OR]: 3.4), awareness of the importance of care for hiesho (OR: 3.0), presence or absence of an outpatient midwife (OR: 1.7), time taken for health check-ups for pregnant women (OR: 1.2), and awareness of how a cold state affects childbirth/delivery (OR: 1.1) (p<0.001).

Conclusion

The percentage of subjects carrying out care for hiesho during health check-ups for pregnant women in the perinatal period was low, at less than 44.1%, and compared to midwife homes, fewer nursing staff members work in hospitals and clinics. Furthermore, as “experience of learning about hiesho” was a factor that significantly affected the implementation of care for hiesho, in the future, it will be necessary to provide opportunities for nursing staff involved in the health check-ups of pregnant women, in particular those nursing staff members working in hospitals and clinics, to learn about hiesho.