Education for a Positive Pregnancy, Birth and Postpartum Erasmus Project

Project Title

Education for a Positive Pregnancy, Birth and Postpartum

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Health and wellbeing; Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

Project Context / Background
Healthcare systems, healthcare users and providers vary widely across the European Union. In some countries guidelines are reviewed regularly, best and evidence-based practices are implemented widely and healthcare users are encouraged to be equal partners in their care, being given information upon which they are free to make choices that are best for them. In others, especially those in the southern and eastern parts of the EU the situation is very different, and future parents are discouraged from participating in their own care, asking questions or making their own choices. This is even moreso the case for women from lower socio-economic groups, with lower levels of education and from geographically dislocated areas, who are less likely to seek out health information or take antenatal classes. This fear, especially in the groups just described, is evident in higher rates of pregnancy complications and premature birth in these groups, who despite the fact that they are receiving the same care have higher rates of sub-optimal outcomes.
Expectant parents cannot make choices based on information they do not have, nor can they have options if they do not know they have them. This project uses innovative methods to get to those parents who may not seek out prenatal education and perhaps do now know the questions to ask even if they do want more information.

Objectives
This project developed and provided high-quality, modern adult education to expectant parents using various media and methods of delivery in order to maximise uptake and input, using three types of education and training:
1) an innovative, evidence-based curriculum for childbirth education, training a cohort of childbirth educator tutors and childbirth educators who delivered prenatal courses across three countries and three languages, with the goal of reaching dislocated and underserved areas,
2) a book on pregnancy, birth and postpartum written in four languages (English, Croatian, Czech, Slovene) and distributed as a printed book and audio book to public libraries and organisations that bring together people with disabilities, but also available freely online,
3) a mobile app for expectant parents in four languages that will provide easy-to-understand and use information on pregnancy, birth and postpartum,

The ultimate goal is to educate expectant parents’ about the pregnancy, birth and postpartum experiences with evidence-based, easy to understand information.

Number of Participants and their Profile
Three types of participants were included in this project
1) Staff and volunteers of member organisations – these were members and employees of our organisations (15 in total) who attended staff training sessions, as well as thos who attended the train the trainer sessions (26 in total).
2) Expectant parents who participated in courses directly (100 in Croatia, 40 in Slovenia)
3) Expectant parents who used the project outputs (11.000 app users, 800 libraries and associations who received the books and audio books, and the parents who read the book or listened to the audio book (at least 3000 in the project period)).

Description of Activities, Results and Impact
The project activities involved one staff training and one train-the-trainer session where 26 women were trained as childbirth educators, who then held pilot classes in their own communities.
The project’s results were one completed curriculum for training future childbirth educators and 26 new educators. A mobile app was prepared, designed and launched in English, Croatian, Czech and Slovene, as was a book for pregnant families (print, digital and audio book formats.

The project’s impact was immense – with the newly developed curriculum the partner organisations will continue to run trainer trainings and workshops for pregnant families, increasing their knowledge. The mobile app and book have made complex information available to parents all over the partner countries and have been used and read by thousands of parents. This impact will continue well after the project has been completed.

Participating in the project was very beneficial for the partner organisations, staff and volunteers who raised their knowledge and capacities for project management, collaboration, international understanding and networking for mutual learning.

Long-Term Benefits
The project outputs were designed to have a long-term impact on pregnant families in all the partner countries because they will continue to be available and be used by the target groups. The partnership network created will also be used in the future, as all partners have learned from each other and will work together in the future.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 207159 Eur

Project Coordinator

Roditelji u Akciji & Country: HR

Project Partners

• APERIO – Spolecnost pro zdrave rodicovstvi, z.s.
• Zavod Indo Anai