Source
Study on Sleep & Functional Performance in Heart Failure at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, School of Nursing, Newark 07101-1709, and Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine, Saint Peter's University Hospital, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
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).
DESIGN:
Randomized controlled trial.
SETTING:
A women's ambulatory care center at a tertiary perinatal care hospital in New Jersey.
PATIENTS/PARTICIPANTS:
Six hundred nulliparous women carrying a singleton pregnancy who had a low-risk pregnancy at the time of enrollment and were able to identify a female friend or family member willing to act as their lay doula.
INTERVENTIONS:
The doula group was taught traditional doula supportive techniques in two 2-hour sessions.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:
Length of labor, type of delivery, type and timing of analgesia/anesthesia, and Apgar scores.
RESULTS:
Significantly shorter length of labor in the doula group, greater cervical dilation at the time of epidural anesthesia, and higher Apgar scores at both 1 and 5 minutes. Differences did not reach statistical significance in type of analgesia/anesthesia or cesarean delivery despite a trend toward lower cesarean delivery rates in the doula group.
CONCLUSION:
Providing low-income pregnant women with the option to choose a female friend who has received lay doula training and will act as doula during labor, along with other family members, shortens the labor process.