Prenatal Dietary Education, Using the Midwifery Model, in Ireland vs the United States

Author

Allison Erby, University of Arkansas, FayettevilleFollow

Date of Graduation

5-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Nursing

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Nursing

Advisor/Mentor

Ballentine, Hope

Committee Member/Reader

Owen, Megan

Abstract

Prenatal dietary education is a very important component of care in healthy pregnancies, but more than that, dietary education can be an indicator of the value a healthcare provider places on holistic care or preventive medicine. The United States and Ireland are compared in this study because they represent high intervention vs. low intervention approaches, respectively, to obstetric care. Healthcare professionals from the United States and Ireland perceive the most important nutrients and method of receiving those differently. Maybe the most telling contrast, healthcare professionals in Ireland perceive food as the way pregnant women should receive vital nutrients, but healthcare professionals in the United States cited vitamins or supplements as the best way. The participants did agree on several topics as well. Most agree diet should be discussed at every visit, and that physicians do not provide individualized or consistent prenatal dietary education, but midwives do. This indicates holistic care is valued across the board, even if it is not normally executed.

Keywords

prenatal dietary education; holistic; midwife; midwifery; Ireland; United States; low intervention

Citation

Erby, A. (2021). Prenatal Dietary Education, Using the Midwifery Model, in Ireland vs the United States. The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing Undergraduate Honors Theses Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/nursuht/142