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.
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).
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
600
Saint Peters University Hospital
New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States
Length of labor
type of delivery
type and timing of analgesia/anesthesia
Birthweight
neonatal Apgar score at 1 and 5 minutes after birth
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