Do the concepts of ‘life course approach’ and ‘developmental origins of health and disease’ underpin current maternity care? Study protocol

Abstract

Objective:
1. To explore the knowledge of the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) concept among midwives and obstetricians; 2. To identify barriers and facilitators for clinicians to engage women and their partners before or early in pregnancy on risk factors associated with DOHaD, and thus to embed the concept of DOHaD in routine clinical practice.

Methods:
A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews will be conducted in Brazil, Ghana, India, Pakistan, the UK and USA in collaboration with the International Confederation of Midwives and the International Federation of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Participants will be contacted via email and telephone interviews will be conducted until data saturation followed by inductive thematic analysis.

Results: Findings from this exploratory study will provide new knowledge about the perspectives of midwives and obstetricians on DOHaD and their role in preventing the intergenerational passage of NCD risk and improving preconception care.

Conclusion:
This study will help us understand the current use of DOHaD principles in international maternity care and how this can be improved. Bringing DOHaD to clinical practice will help health care practitioners adopt a long-term approach in the prevention of NCDs and childhood obesity, and will support women to enter pregnancy in optimum health.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Chandni Maria Jacob: orcid.org/0000-0002-2024-0074

ORCID for Wendy Lawrence: orcid.org/0000-0003-1264-0438

ORCID for Hazel Inskip: orcid.org/0000-0001-8897-1749

ORCID for Mark Hanson: orcid.org/0000-0002-6907-613X

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