Efficacy of an educational manual for childbirth companions: pilot study of a randomized clinical trial

OBJECTIVE: to evaluate the effectiveness of an educational manual in the instrumentalization of companions to provide support to the parturients and check its influence on the satisfaction of companions and women during vaginal delivery. METHOD: pilot study of a randomized controlled clinical trial with 65 companions and puerperal women (intervention = 21 and control = 44). The previous knowledge of the companions was evaluated at baseline. The Evaluation Form for Companions in the Delivery Room was used to measure the actions provided and the satisfaction with the experience, and the Questionnaire for Evaluation of the Experience and Satisfaction of Puerperal Women with Labor and Delivery was used to evaluate the satisfaction of women with childbirth. The Student’s t-test or Wilcoxon, chi-square or Fisher’s exact test, risk ratios and 95% confidence intervals were used. RESULTS: the companions in the intervention group performed a greater number of support actions (7.2 vs 4.6, p: 0.001) and had higher satisfaction scores (72.4 vs 64.2; p = 0.00). Puerperal women in the intervention group had higher satisfaction with childbirth (119.6 vs 107.9; p: 0.000). CONCLUSION: the manual was effective for the instrumentalization of companions, contributed to support actions to the parturients and had repercussions on the satisfaction of companions and women with the birthing process. RBR-776d9s