Advantages and challenges of the Maternal and Child Health Handbook as perceived by healthcare professionals

• Published in: Journal of Japan Academy of Midwifery Vol. 38; no. 2; pp. 227 - 237
• Main Authors: NISHIMURA, Etsuko, SHOKI, Rina, OTA, Erika, WATANABE, Yoko, NAKAMURA, Yasuhide
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Japanese
• Published: Japan Academy of Midwifery 2024
• Subjects: format revision; healthcare professionals; Maternal and Child Health Handbook; qualitative descriptive study; utilization status
• ISSN: 0917-6357; 1882-4307
• DOI: 10.3418/jjam.JJAM-2023-0052

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to clarify the advantages and challenges of utilizing the 2012 revised version of the Maternal and Child Health Handbook (MCH Handbook), and to identify requests for the 2023 format revision from the perspectives of public health nurses, midwives, and nurses involved in maternal and child healthcare services.MethodsThe study participants were public health nurses, midwives, and nurses who utilize the MCH Handbook in maternal and child healthcare services. They were recruited via the snowball sampling method. Focus group interviews were conducted with two to five participants from each occupational field representing a “hospital,” “community,” and “municipality.” The results were qualitatively analyzed.ResultsEleven participants―five public health nurses, five midwives, and one outpatient pediatric nurse, took part in the study. They averaged 11 ± 6.8 years of experience in maternal and child healthcare services. The hospital group consisted of four midwives; the community group comprised one midwife and one nurse; and the municipal group consisted of five public health nurses. As a result of the performed qualitative descriptive analysis of the contents of the focus group interviews, two major categories become apparent: ‘Advantages in utilizing the MCH Handbook’ and ‘Requests for the revision of the format of the MCH Handbook’. The structure of the MCH Handbook and issues related to the use of each page were classified by page number, and a table was created. Regarding the first two aforementioned categories, 7 categories and 21 subcategories were extracted. They included ‘Ease of information collection’; ‘Continuity of records after childbirth’; ‘Effective tool for guidance’; ‘Hybridization with electronic records’; ‘Effective delivery of information’; ‘Collaboration for continued use’; and ‘Handbook applicable to everyone’.ConclusionThe information aggregation and continuity of the MCH Handbook were evaluated positively by maternal and child healthcare services. Public health nurses working for municipalities hoped for cooperation with schools to achieve continued care and use of the handbook. Expectations were that the handbook would respond to societal changes, such as the diversity of caregivers and individuality of children, and facilitate joint parenting by mothers and fathers.