Abstract
Background: The BUMP trials evaluated a self-monitoring of blood pressure intervention in addition to usual care, testing whether they improved detection or control of hypertension for women at risk of hypertension or with hypertension during pregnancy. This process evaluation aimed to understand healthcare professionals’ perspectives and experiences of the BUMP trials of self-monitoring of blood pressure during pregnancy.
Methods: Twenty-two in-depth qualitative interviews and online survey with 328 healthcare professionals providing care for pregnant people in the BUMP trials were carried out across five maternity units in England.
Results: Analysis used Normalisation Process Theory to identify factors required for successful implementation and integration into routine practice. Healthcare professionals felt SMBP did not over-medicalise pregnancy for women with, or at risk of, hypertension. Most said self-monitored readings positively affected their clinical encounters and professional roles, provided additive information on which to base decisions and enriched their relationships with pregnant people. Selfmonitoring of blood pressure shifts responsibilities. Some healthcare professionals felt women having responsibility to decide on timing of monitoring and whether to act on self-monitored readings was unduly burdensome, and resulted in healthcare professionals taking additional responsibility for supporting them.
Conclusions: Despite healthcare professionals’ early concerns that self-monitoring of blood pressure might overmedicalise pregnancy, our analysis shows the opposite was the case when used in the care of pregnant people with, or at higher risk of, hypertension. While professionals retained ultimate clinical responsibility, they viewed self-monitoring of blood pressure as a means of sharing responsibility and empowering women to understand their bodies, to make judgements and decisions, and to contribute to their care.
Methods: Twenty-two in-depth qualitative interviews and online survey with 328 healthcare professionals providing care for pregnant people in the BUMP trials were carried out across five maternity units in England.
Results: Analysis used Normalisation Process Theory to identify factors required for successful implementation and integration into routine practice. Healthcare professionals felt SMBP did not over-medicalise pregnancy for women with, or at risk of, hypertension. Most said self-monitored readings positively affected their clinical encounters and professional roles, provided additive information on which to base decisions and enriched their relationships with pregnant people. Selfmonitoring of blood pressure shifts responsibilities. Some healthcare professionals felt women having responsibility to decide on timing of monitoring and whether to act on self-monitored readings was unduly burdensome, and resulted in healthcare professionals taking additional responsibility for supporting them.
Conclusions: Despite healthcare professionals’ early concerns that self-monitoring of blood pressure might overmedicalise pregnancy, our analysis shows the opposite was the case when used in the care of pregnant people with, or at higher risk of, hypertension. While professionals retained ultimate clinical responsibility, they viewed self-monitoring of blood pressure as a means of sharing responsibility and empowering women to understand their bodies, to make judgements and decisions, and to contribute to their care.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 88-95 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Pregnancy Hypertension |
| Volume | 35 |
| Early online date | 1 Feb 2024 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Mar 2024 |
Bibliographical note
Funding:National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Programme grant for applied research (RP-PG-1209–10051) and NIHR Professorships (NIHR-RP-2014–05-019, NIHR-RP-R2-12–015).
AC, RM and KT received funding from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration Oxford and Thames Valley (ARC-OxTV).
The grant application underwent external peer review for scientific quality. The funder played no role in conducting the research or writing the paper.
Keywords
- blood pressure
- Self monitoring
- health professional
- evaluation
- BUMP trials
- pregnancy hypertension