Alternative Labour Pain Strategies Study

Completed

Conditions: abour Pain Management
Pregnancy and Childbirth

Registration Number: ISRCTN43151584

Lead Sponsor: Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust (UK)

Brief Summary: Not available

Detailed Description: Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: Completed

Sex: Female

Target Recruitment: 90

Inclusion Criteria

Eligible women will include all pregnant women booked for care in the study period except for listed exclusions.

Exclusion Criteria

1. Multiple pregnancy
2. Planned caesarean section
3. Medical problems that would preclude the use of massage techniques
4. Women who have previously used the massage programme
5. Women who have a strong preference for a particular form of pain relief
6. Women who do not speak fluent English
7. Women not intending to have a birth companion

Study & Design

Study Type: Interventional

Study Design: Not specified

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
The primary outcome measure will be self-reported labour pain. The visual analogue scale (VAS), a simple, widely used measure validated for use to assess overall labour pain, within 48 hours of birth will be given to all participating women to complete before transfer from labour care. The scale will be given to women during the second hour following birth when hormonal interactions that begin immediately following birth initiate maternal-infant contact and pain from perineal trauma is usually absent. This is ethically and physiologically preferable to use during labour, or to use of the more complex and time-consuming Magill Pain Questionnaire, that is also validated for such research.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Other methods of pain relief, obstetric interventions, birth outcomes, cord blood levels of stress hormones and women's satisfaction and sense of control.