Birth Environment of the Future

Herning Hospital

Status: Completed

Conditions: Pregnancy

Treatments: Other: Supportive care in a specially designed labour room

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02478385

fremtidensfødemiljø

Details and patient eligibility

About

The main purpose of this study is to explore the impact of the birth environment on women's birth experience and relevant birth outcomes in the experimental Labour room compared to a standard Labour room.

Full description

In the last decade, there has been an increased interest in exploring the impact of the birth environment on midwifery practice and the women's birth experiences. Results from these studies show that a home-like birth environment has positive effects on both midwifery practice and the birth experience. The hormone oxytocin that causes contractions during labour may play an important role in this context. The hormone is released when being in a safe, secure and confident environment. Therefore, it is a reasonable assumption that the birth environment also has an impact on birth outcomes.

To investigate this assumption one traditional labour room was transformed to an experimental labour room. The design of the room is inspired by knowledge from evidence-based healthcare design, which describes bringing nature into the room. Furthermore, it is possible for the parents to design their own birth setting by choosing atmosphere through sound, light and nature scenes.

Enrollment: 680 patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 18 to 45 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• primiparas with a singleton pregnancy
• Gestational age 37-42
• speaks and understands Danish

Exclusion criteria

• Inducted delivery

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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680 participants in 2 patient groups, including a placebo group

Birth environment labour room

Active Comparator group

Description:

Supportive care of labour room designed with special attention on sound and light effects, covering medical devices and insulation from outside noise

Treatment:

Other: Supportive care in a specially designed labour room

Labour in a standard labour room

Placebo Comparator group

Description:

The woman gives labour in a standard labour room

Treatment:

Other: Supportive care in a specially designed labour room