Women's attitudes, experiences and compliance concerning the use of Mindfetalness- a method for systematic observation of fetal movements in late pregnancy.
BACKGROUND
Maternal perception of decreased fetal movements and low awareness of fetal movements are associated with a negative birth outcome. Mindfetalness is a method developed for women to facilitate systematic observations of the intensity, character and frequency of fetal movements in late pregnancy. We sought to explore women's attitudes, experiences and compliance in using Mindfetalness.


METHODS
We enrolled 104 pregnant women treated at three maternity clinics in Stockholm, Sweden, from February to July of 2016. We educated 104 women in gestational week 28-32 by providing information about fetal movements and how to practice Mindfetalness. Each was instructed to perform the assessment daily for 15 min. At each subsequent follow-up, the midwife collected information regarding their perceptions of Mindfetalness, and their compliance. Content analyses, descriptive and analytic statistics were used in the analysis of data.


RESULTS
Of the women, 93 (89%) were positive towards Mindfetalness and compliance was high 78 (75%). Subjective responses could be binned into one of five categories: Decreased worry, relaxing, creating a relationship, more knowledge about the unborn baby and awareness of the unborn baby. Eleven (11%) women had negative perceptions of Mindfetalness, citing time, and the lack of need for a method to observe fetal movements as the most common reasons.


CONCLUSION
Women in late pregnancy are generally positive about Mindfetalness and their compliance with daily use is high. The technique helped them to be more aware of, and create a relationship with, their unborn baby. Mindfetalness can be a useful tool in antenatal care. However, further study is necessary in order to determine whether the technique is able to reduce the incidence of negative birth outcome.
['Akselsson|Anna|A|http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0830-217X', 'Georgsson|Susanne|S|', 'Lindgren|Helena|H|', 'Pettersson|Karin|K|', 'Rådestad|Ingela|I|']
D000293:Adolescent D000328:Adult D005260:Female D005323:Fetal Monitoring D005324:Fetal Movement D005865:Gestational Age D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice D006801:Humans D064866:Mindfulness D010349:Patient Compliance D010465:Perception D011247:Pregnancy D011263:Pregnancy Trimester, Third D011295:Prenatal Care D013548:Sweden D055815:Young Adult
Attitude Compliance Fetal movements Mindfetalness Relationship