Kaye, A. (2007). A randomized control trial of continuous support in labor by a lay doula. Mcn-the American Journal of Maternal-Child Nursing.
Objective:To compare labor outcomes inwomen accompanied by an additional support per-son (doula group) with outcomes in women who didnot have this additional support person (controlgroup).
Design: Randomized controlled trial.
Setting: A women’s ambulatory care center ata tertiary perinatal care hospital in New Jersey.
Patients/participants: Six hundred nulliparouswomen carrying a singleton pregnancy who had alow-risk pregnancy at the time of enrollment and wereable to identify a female friend or family memberwilling to act as their lay doula.
Interventions: The doula group was taught tra-ditional doula supportive techniques in two 2-hoursessions.
Main Outcome Measures: Length of labor, typeof delivery, type and timing of analgesia/anesthesia,and Apgar scores.
Results: Significantly shorter length of labor inthe doula group, greater cervical dilation at thetime of epidural anesthesia, and higher Apgarscores at both 1 and 5 minutes. Differences didnot reach statistical significance in type of analge-sia/anesthesia or cesarean delivery despite a trendtoward lower cesarean delivery rates in the doulagroup.
Conclusion: Providing low-income pregnantwomen with the option to choose a female friendwho has received lay doula training and will act asdoula during labor, along with other family members,shortens the labor process. JOGNN, 35 , 456-464;2006. DOI: 10.1111/J.1552-6909.2006.00067.x
Keywords: Being with woman—Caregivers— Continuous labor support—Doula—Labor support— Maternal outcomes