Ascertaining women's preferred mode of address and preferred choice of title during pregnancy and childbirth.
To determine how women in pregnancy would like to be addressed and to ascertain their preferred choice of title during pregnancy. A questionnaire was administered to 925 antenatal women. Midwifery and medical staff (183) were invited to respond to a similar questionnaire. The response rate was 71.2% from the survey of pregnant women. The vast majority (82.1%) preferred to be addressed by their first name. Women were in favour of being called 'patient' (32.8%) as their first choice. The staff survey yielded a response rate of 77%. The majority (81.8%) of health professionals preferred to address women by their first name. 'Mother' (28.7%) was the most popular first choice. We conclude that women in pregnancy do have a preference on how they would like to be addressed and this is predominantly by first name. Health professionals also prefer to call pregnant women by their first name. The term 'patient' was the most popular first choice of title of women in pregnancy but the term 'mother' was the preferred choice of the health professionals. Medical staff were more likely to choose 'patient' than midwives.
Horgan
R
R
Dept of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University College, Cork. richhorgan@yahoo.co.uk
Guha
S
S
Sullivan
K O
KO
Higgins
J R
JR
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland; D011247:Pregnancy; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014930:Women / Q000523:psychology*