Objectives

This study aimed to reveal the current status and factors related to preconception care (PCC) health literacy among men visiting an infertility clinic in Japan.

Methods

This cross-sectional study was conducted between September and November 2022 at a clinic specializing in infertility treatment in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Three hundred leaflets with website addresses and QR codes linked to a web-based questionnaire were placed in the waiting rooms of the research facility. The participants were asked to complete a web-based questionnaire and participate in the study. The PCC Health Literacy Scale was used to measure PCC health literacy in men. A multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to identify factors related to PCC health literacy.

Results

Seventy-seven men completed the questionnaire. The mean PCC health literacy score was 38.8 ± 6.5 points. This mean score was used as the cut-off value according to which the participants were divided into two groups: high and low PCC health literacy. The men who visited the infertility outpatient clinic for the first time and who identified “kind of being tiresome” as a reason for not visiting an infertility clinic had a significant risk of low PCC health literacy.

Conclusion

This study revealed factors related to PCC health literacy among men seeking care at an infertility clinic for the first time. Future research should expand the targets of the survey, such as medical facilities specializing in infertility nationwide, and include men in the pre-perinatal period rather than solely including men who visit infertility clinics.

Purpose

The COVID-19 pandemic limited educational opportunities for midwifery students. Nevertheless, this led to the development of new educational methods, and the number of students passing Japan's national midwifery examinations has remained the same. This indicates the need to study whether midwifery education was provided appropriately during the pandemic. Accordingly, this study examined labor and delivery education at Japanese educational institutions that provided superior midwifery education during the pandemic, when practical training opportunities were limited.

Methods

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with institutional personnel about on-campus exercises when practical training was difficult and about difficult-to-acquire learning content despite creative efforts to enhance on-campus exercises. The questions were based on interviewees' prior written answers related to the “practical skills required of midwives and attainment goals at graduation.” The identified items were coded and categorized.

Results

The results showed that the necessary practical skills could be acquired through both on-campus education and on-site training. It was found that the necessary practical skills for the parturient period indicated by the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare can be acquired through both on-campus education and clinical training. Four categories of innovations for on-site training were extracted: <Development of technical skills>, <Digitalization of teaching materials>, <Application of appropriate diagnosis and techniques for the specifics of the situation>, and <Appropriate placement of the right person in the right position in education>. The results indicated that even with the use of educational innovations, it is difficult to obtain <Care tailored to the real-life birthing process>, <Subject-centered care> and <Opportunities to learn from interactions with midwives> through onsite training.

Conclusion

It is possible to improve the practical skills indicated by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare by devising methods for on-site training. With the advancement of science and technology, further improvement of the educational effectiveness of onsite training can be expected through the development of educational materials. However, it was shown that it is difficult to acquire the sense of object and ethics of midwifery and the communication skills required for the profession by actually interacting with midwives and their families, except through clinical training.

Aim

The purpose of this study was to develop a program incorporating elements of meaning in life and self-compassion and to examine the effects of program participation on the parental role and mental health promotion of mothers with infants.

Methods

A program was designed to help mothers find meaning in their lives and increase self-compassion. The intervention period lasted for 6 weeks, with 6 online sessions once a week and homework assignments. The online sessions were designed to allow mothers to interact with each other. Participants in the study were first-time mothers with infants between 3 and 6 months of age. This study was designed to be an open-label, parallel randomized controlled trial. Participants were randomly allocated to the intervention group (n = 16) that received the program and control group (n = 16) that lived a normal life. The control group received the same program after the intervention group received the program. Before and after the intervention, and the Measured Early Childhood Parenting Scale (MECP), which measures parental roles, the K6, which measures mental health, the Meaning in Life Questionnaire Japanese version (MLQ-J-Presence), which measures meaning in life, and the Japanese version of the shortened version of the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS-J-SF-Positive), which measures self-compassion, were measured and analyzed. The main outcome was MECP scores. The surveys were conducted at baseline and after the intervention. The intervention group was also surveyed at 3 and 6 months postintervention.

Results

The randomized controlled trial results revealed that the amount of change in MECP was significantly higher in the intervention group than in the control group. The amount of change in K6 was significantly higher in the control group than in the intervention group.

Conclusion

This study offered first-time mothers raising infants 3–6 months of age a program that would help them promote parental roles and increase self-compassion. Our results showed that pre- and postintervention differences in the MECP scores, measuring parental roles, were statistically significantly higher in the intervention group than in the control group. In addition, the pre- and postintervention differences in K6 scores, which measure mental health, were statistically significantly higher in the control group than in the intervention group. These findings suggest that the program may be effective for promoting parental roles and maintaining mental health.