BACKGROUND:
Women often feel anxious and uncertain in latent labour; as a result they come into hospital. This leads to higher rates of unnecessary and costly intervention, including caesarean sections, which increase perinatal morbidity and lead to greater maternal distress. UK staffing means that midwifery support in the latent phase is limited. Service changes and attitudes have been slow to evolve and have focused on keeping women out of hospital. They have not demonstrated a reduction in intervention rates and often result in women feeling unsupported.

OBJECTIVES:
This project brings together three women-centred approaches to equip women and birth partners with strategies for early labour: a birth ball infomercial; the L-Tel website and the Brythm guided breathing visual within an interactive App.

METHODS:
A screening tool (Pain Catastrophizing Scale) evaluates women’s anxiety to signpost them to appropriate information and strategies for early labour. Patient Public Involvement and Engagement (with support from the Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership) informed how the App should look and work and ensured that it is acceptable to pregnant women. Community midwives and clinical management leads provided content feedback. Working with undergraduate digital science interns we developed a virtual assistant to provide a user experience that closely resembles guidance from a real midwife.

RESULTS:
Stakeholder engagement suggests that the App is acceptable and meets the needs of women, their birth partners and midwives. This presentation will report feedback from women and their birth partners from diverse backgrounds to ensure the App is effective in supporting a contemporary pregnant population.

CONCLUSIONS:
The App is designed to educate and enhance the confidence of birthing families and to complement midwifery care, not replace it.

KEY MESSAGE:
A digital solution will provide active engagement and feedback to reduce unnecessary hospital admissions and caesarean sections that cost England and Wales approximately £23M per annum. Poster session 2 (Group A)