title: Fetal movement in late pregnancy - a content analysis of women's experiences of how their unborn baby moved less or differently.
abstract: Pregnant women sometimes worry about their unborn baby's health, often due to decreased fetal movements. The aim of this study was to examine how women, who consulted health care due to decreased fetal movements, describe how the baby had moved less or differently.
  
  
  
  Women were recruited from all seven delivery wards in Stockholm, Sweden, during 1/1 - 31/12 2014. The women completed a questionnaire after it was verified that the pregnancy was viable. A modified content analysis was used to analyse 876 questionnaires with the women's responses to, "Try to describe how your baby has moved less or had changes in movement".
  
  
  
  Four categories and six subcategories were identified: "Frequency" (decreased frequency, absence of kicks and movement), "Intensity" (weaker fetal movements, indistinct fetal movements), "Character" (changed pattern of movements, slower movements) and "Duration". In addition to the responses categorised in accordance with the question, the women also mentioned how they had tried to stimulate the fetus to move and that they had difficulty in distinguishing fetal movements from contractions. Further, they described worry due to incidents related to changed pattern of fetal movements.
  
  
  
  Women reported changes in fetal movement concerning frequency, intensity, character and duration. The challenge from a clinical perspective is to inform pregnant women about fetal movements with the goal of minimizing unnecessary consultations whilst at the same time diminishing the length of pre-hospital delay if the fetus is at risk of fetal compromise.
  
  
  
  Not applicable.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. anders.linde@shh.se.|Sophiahemmet University, PB 5605, S-114 86, Stockholm, Sweden. anders.linde@shh.se.
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Linde
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.|Sophiahemmet University, PB 5605, S-114 86, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Georgsson
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pettersson
authors.affiliation: Sophiahemmet University, PB 5605, S-114 86, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Sofia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Holmström
authors.affiliation: Sophiahemmet University, PB 5605, S-114 86, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Norberg
authors.affiliation: Sophiahemmet University, PB 5605, S-114 86, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Ingela
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Rådestad
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D005324:Fetal Movement; D006801:Humans; D010465:Perception; D010812:Physical Stimulation; D011247:Pregnancy; D011263:Pregnancy Trimester, Third; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Content analysis; Decreased fetal movements; Fetal movement; Pregnancy