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Co-sleeping and bed sharing in Australian maternity units: A pilot study of clinicians—Knowledge, perceptions and practices
Abstract   Peer reviewed

Co-sleeping and bed sharing in Australian maternity units: A pilot study of clinicians—Knowledge, perceptions and practices

Cassia Drever-Smith, Fiona E Bogossian and Karen New
Women and Birth, Vol.26(Supplement 1), p.S26
2013
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wombi.2013.08.173
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wombi.2013.08.173View
Published Version

Abstract

Medical and Health Sciences
There is little published research regarding co-sleeping and bed sharing in maternity units. It was the premise of this research that not all midwives receive education about co-sleeping and bed sharing, enabling them to present evidence based information to mothers in their care, and the midwives that do receive information/education on this topic only do so from a very limited resource base. The research aim was to investigate midwives' knowledge and practices surrounding mothers and neonates co-sleeping in maternity units in the initial post partum period. The research investigated the factors that influence midwives practice and the information they provide to parents about co-sleeping and bed sharing. A nationwide electronic survey was undertaken to gather data on clinicians' knowledge, perceptions and practices about cosleeping. The results indicate that contrary to the research premise, midwives do receive education about co-sleeping and bed sharing in maternity units, and supported the premise that those who do receive education about co-sleeping and bedsharing in maternity units do so from a very limited resource base. While many reported personally co-sleeping this does not appear to influence the information they provided to mothers in their care. The study identifies directions on how best to provide information to midwives on safer co-sleeping and bed sharing practice. Utilising existing predominantly accessed resources would be an ideal point of dissemination (if not authorship) of a national clinical practice guideline. Research in this field (and others) would be enhanced by the development of a single approval process for conducting research. The advantage of replicating this research on a larger scale would be to give weight to existing evidence, and to raise awareness of the complexities faced by midwives and other healthcare providers educating parents of infants in their care.

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Nursing
Obstetrics & Gynecology
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