Strengthening maternity service user involvement in midwifery clinical skills education through co-design of a mobile app.

Gibb, Fiona

Abstract

Background: Service user involvement in education has become fundamental in professional, statutory and regulatory bodies responsible for the education of health and social care professionals. Where there are various examples of service user involvement across nursing, medicine and social work there appears to be less evidence on how to involve women in midwifery education and the impact of this. Aim: The aim of this research was to create a design specification, co-designed in partnership with maternity service users to inform the content of a mobile app which could be used to support the involvement of women in midwifery clinical skills education. Design: Qualitative, participatory research was undertaken using a user-centred co-design framework. Methods: Qualitative data was collected using a World Café style approach with female employees of the university (n=7) who were currently pregnant or who had a baby within the preceding five years and thus had recent experience of maternity services. Findings: This research suggested that there is motivation from maternity service users to be involved in midwifery education, however there are challenges that restrict the time that pregnant women and new mothers can contribute. The findings of the co-design World Cafés centred around three themes namely; preparation for involvement, supporting and sustaining involvement and the acceptability and use of an app to overcome challenges faced by maternity service users. Through participants involvement in the research, a design specification was co-designed which includes a diary function of upcoming teaching sessions, general information about the volunteer group, a news feed with testimonials and feedback and a profile to register personal details to be shared only with the volunteer group database. Conclusion: The findings from this research could assist in the development of an app to support and sustain the involvement of women in midwifery education.

Citation

GIBB, F. 2018. Strengthening maternity service user involvement in midwifery clinical skills education through co-design of a mobile app. Robert Gordon University, MRes thesis.

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Sep 3, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 3, 2018
• Keywords: Qualitative research; Participatory research; Narrative pedagogy; Midwifery education; Service user involvement; Clinical skills; Co-design; User centred; Mobile app development
• Public URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10059/3114
• Award Date: Apr 30, 2018