Background
Parental education plays a major role in the health of pregnant couples and newborns, as anxiety during pregnancy and delivery is often caused by lack of information about what is happening. In Georgia, “parent schools” have been established to address this issue and equip pregnant couples with the knowledge needed to prepare for delivery and parenthood. The sessions at the parent schools include topics like pregnancy month-by-month, labour and delivery, breastfeeding, newborn care and family planning. The classes are always taught by obstetricians, never midwives.

About the project
This project was created to promote parental knowledge of childbirth in Bolnisi by establishing a parent school at Bolnisi Maternity Hospital. The project team trained all midwives and obstetricians on effective perinatal care, i.e. care for the mother and newborn before, during and after delivery. Two midwives were selected to facilitate the sessions at the parent school and ten pregnant couples were recruited to participate in the classes. The participants were divided into two groups – one Georgian and one Azeri/Armenian – so that they could attend the classes in their preferred language.

Results
By the end of the project, the Bolnisi parent school was established and fully functioning. This parent school is the first one in Georgia where the sessions are conducted by midwives, rather than obstetricians. This task-shifting helped increase the knowledge and satisfaction levels among the hospital staff. Another success was that the parent classes were available in the national minority languages, which was important considering that around 70% of the clients at Bolnisi Maternity Hospital don’t speak Georgian or Russian. The parent school also helped increase the participation of fathers, both during pregnancy and childbirth.

Year: 2009