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Article Summary: Midwives’ knowledge, attitudes and practice about alcohol exposure and the risk of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

Background

Pregnant women agree that health care professionals have great influence in providing advice for a safe and healthy pregnancy. Midwives play a significant role in advising pregnant women on the dangers of alcohol consumption during pregnancy and therefore must be knowledgeable and confident in order to appropriately deliver the abstinence message. This article aims to identify midwives’ knowledge, attitudes, and quality of practice in addressing alcohol use and pregnancy.

 Current knowledge, attitudes, & practice

Barriers to practice

Midwives found that barriers to putting their knowledge into practice and advising women on the harms of alcohol consumption during pregnancy include:

 Recommendations

 Take home message:

Only about 2/3 of midwives report discussing alcohol and pregnancy with their patients, showing a gap in knowledge and education. Even in cases where they are generally knowledgeable on the topic, they tend to avoid the conversation because of a lack of confidence in properly delivering the message to pregnant women. If midwives are given proper support and education to help their patients, as well as more involvement in early stages of screening and care before pregnancy, they would be better prepared to help women have an alcohol-free pregnancy.

For more information:

Authors: Janet M Payne, Rochelle E Watkins, Heather M Jones, Tracey Reibel, Raewyn Mutch, Amanda Wilkins, Julie Whitlock, Carol Bower

Journal: BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth

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