The DOI matches its Crossref record.
A Randomized Controlled Trial of Continuous Labor Support for Middle‐Class Couples: Effect on Cesarean Delivery Rates
Abstract
ABSTRACT: Background: Previous randomized controlled studies in several different settings demonstrated the positive effects of continuous labor support by an experienced woman (doula) for low‐income women laboring without the support of family members. The objective of this randomized controlled trial was to examine the perinatal effects of doula support for nulliparous middle‐income women accompanied by a male partner during labor and delivery. Methods: Nulliparous women in the third trimester of an uncomplicated pregnancy were enrolled at childbirth education classes in Cleveland, Ohio, from 1988 through 1992. Of the 686 prenatal women recruited, 420 met enrollment criteria and completed the intervention. For the 224 women randomly assigned to the experimental group, a doula arrived shortly after hospital admission and remained throughout labor and delivery. Doula support included close physical proximity, touch, and eye contact with the laboring woman, and teaching, reassurance, and encouragement of the woman and her male partner. Results: The doula group had a significantly lower cesarean delivery rate than the control group (13.4% vs 25.0%, p = 0.002), and fewer women in the doula group received epidural analgesia (64.7% vs 76.0%, p = 0.008). Among women with induced labor, those supported by a doula had a lower rate of cesarean delivery than those in the control group (12.5% vs 58.8%, p = 0.007). On questionnaires the day after delivery, 100 percent of couples with doula support rated their experience with the doula positively. Conclusions: For middle‐class women laboring with the support of their male partner, the continuous presence of a doula during labor significantly decreased the likelihood of cesarean delivery and reduced the need for epidural analgesia. Women and their male partners were unequivocal in their positive opinions about laboring with the support of a doula. (BIRTH 35:2 June 2008)
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
No references could be resolved yet.
Research works printed but not linked: 16
- 10.1056/NEJM198009113031101 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1136/bmj.293.6547.585 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1001/jama.1991.03460170051032 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1111/j.1471-0528.1991.tb13479.x · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1002/nur.4770120504 · DOI
- 10.3109/01674829009084420 · DOI
- Klaus MH, 1992, Maternal assistance and support in labor: Father, nurse, midwife, or doula?, Clin Consult Obstet Gynecol, 4, 211
- SPSS Inc, 1999, Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Version 9.0.1
- 10.3109/01674829009084421 · DOI
- Lohn B, 1992, Comparison of fathers and doulas as supportive labor companions, Ped Res, 31
- Brooks AK, 1995, Supportive behaviors of men and women during labor, Ped Res, 31
- 10.1016/S0140-6736(89)92341-6 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1542/peds.99.3.415 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1016/0002-9378(93)90015-B · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1016/0029-7844(95)00269-W · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1203/00006450-199704001-00100 · doi:10.1203/00006450-199704001-00100
Cited by
Continuous support for women during childbirth
Bohren, M. A., Hofmeyr, G. J., Sakala, C., Fukuzawa, R. K., & Cuthbert, A. (2017) · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1002/14651858.cd003766.pub6 · Cited by 1,100
Continuous support for women during childbirth
Hodnett, E. D., Gates, S., Hofmeyr, G. J., & Sakala, C. (2013) · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1002/14651858.cd003766.pub5 · Cited by 389
Cesarean and Vaginal Birth in Canadian Women: A Comparison of Experiences
Chalmers, B., Kaczorowski, J., Darling, E., Heaman, M., Fell, D. B., O’Brien, B., Lee, L., & for the Maternity Experiences Study Group of the Canadian Perinatal Surveillance System (2010) · Birth · doi:10.1111/j.1523-536x.2009.00377.x · Cited by 76
Miller, K. J., Couchie, C., Ehman, W., Graves, L., Grzybowski, S., Medves, J., Dupuis, K., Dunikowski, L., Marturano, P., Senikas, V., et al. (2012) · Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada · doi:10.1016/s1701-2163(16)35414-7 · Cited by 38
Metadata
- Authors
- McGrath, S. K., & Kennell, J. H.
- Venue
- Birth
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2008-05-27
- Volume
- 35
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 92-97
- ISSN
- 0730-7659 (ISSN-L)
- 1523-536X
- OpenAlex
- W2057272181
- Cited by
- 173
- References
- 0
- FWCI
- 9.39
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
How to cite
Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.
- This page
- CoChat. (2026). Citation check: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Continuous Labor Support for Middle‐Class Couples: Effect on Cesarean Delivery Rates. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1111/j.1523-536x.2008.00221.x
- The paper
- McGrath, S. K., & Kennell, J. H. (2008). A Randomized Controlled Trial of Continuous Labor Support for Middle‐Class Couples: Effect on Cesarean Delivery Rates. Birth. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-536x.2008.00221.x
Data sources
Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.
