Language use in antenatal consultations

The material in this series of papers is derived from a Department of Health funded evaluation of the MIDIRS Informed Choice leaflets (Kirkham and Stapleton, 2001). The focus of this paper is on midwives’ use of language and the ‘packaging’ of verbal and non-verbal information during antenatal consultations. Midwives were observed making very little effort to explore and accommodate women’s individual information needs and hence they often disseminated information that was irrelevant to the woman concerned or that duplicated information offered on a previous occasion. Women rarely sought clarification about information they did not understand because the powerful, non-verbal messages midwives conveyed suggested that they had little time for elaboration or explanation. As women rarely saw the same midwife at their antenatal visits, there were few opportunities to establish the relationships based on mutual trust, respect and reciprocity that support information exchange. The language used by midwives tended to emphasise the risks, rather than the benefits, of non-interventionist approaches and to downplay the limitations of technological interventions.