Childbirth and parenting education--the providers' viewpoint.

As part of a study of childbirth and parenting education programmes in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) service providers were surveyed for information on educational and administrative aspects of the service. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with representatives of both public (hospital-based) and private sector agencies. The survey was structured in a management problem-solving framework to gather data on educational strategies and administrative and organisational factors. This approach provided a coherent view of what health educators in childbirth education were doing and why, and identified needs that could be related to information about programme effectiveness gained from a parallel literature review (O'Meara, 1993) and a survey of client consumers. The study found that the organisation of childbirth and parenting education has not developed professionally in line with other health care services. Goals and objectives are ill-defined, and planning and co-ordination are inadequate for an integrated maternal health care system. Its main resource is a body of highly motivated teachers. Several recommendations are made for measures to enhance service effectiveness, based on needs identified in the study.