Facemums 2018: final report

McCarthy, R; Choucri, LP; Jones, J; Butler, DE; Chatwin, JR; Brettle, AJ; Light, BA

Abstract

Continuity of care and easy access to reliable information during pregnancy is essential to the health and wellbeing of pregnant women. In recent years widespread use of the internet has fundamentally changed the way people obtain health information and communicate with health providers. Pregnant women have been found to be a group who are particularly motivated to look for information and support online. In 2015 a pilot study was conducted to explore the feasibility of using professionally moderated social media groups to provide additional antenatal support for pregnant mothers. The intervention called Facemums proved to be extremely popular with users and in addition to improving access to reliable information and support it was found that involvement in a group greatly enhanced relational continuity o one of the key aims underpinning NHS antenatal care. Following the success of the original pilot study in April 2019 a full-scale intervention was rolled out across 7 NHS Trusts and 8 Maternity Hospitals in 3 Sustainable Transformation Partnerships (ST1s) (Wave 1). A further 5 NHS Trusts became involved in November 2019 (Wave 2). These two waves supported over 500 pregnant women (AFacemums’) and have involved training over 60 NHS midwifes to act as group moderators (AFacewives’). The Facemums programme has been hugely successful meeting the information and support needs of pregnant women and newly delivered mothers improving continuity of care providing professional access to midwives and facilitating peer support in a safe and manageable way.

Citation

McCarthy, R., Choucri, L., Jones, J., Butler, D., Chatwin, J., Brettle, A., & Light, B. (2020). Facemums 2018: final report

• Report Type: Project Report
• Publication Date: Jul 1, 2020
• Deposit Date: Oct 12, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 12, 2022
• Additional Information: Corporate Creators : University of Salford, Health Education England; Projects : Facemums 2018