Aim: to explore the concept of continuous care and its dimensions in the prenatal, perinatal, and postnatal periods based on the experiences of midwives, gynaecologists, obstetricians, pregnant women and their husbands.
Design: a qualitative study that was part of a large scale action research which aimed to develop, use and test a continuous midwifery-led care model. Data collection and analysis were performed concurrently through undertaking semi-structured interviews and using the conventional content analysis approach.
Setting: healthcare centres and hospitals affiliated to Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.
Participants: 21 women following a recent pregnancy, five husbands, 18 midwives, and five physicians who had different official positions.
Findings: the participants' experiences revealed five concepts for continuous midwifery-led care which included continuity, the process of care, education and informing, management, and professionalism. Each of these five concepts consisted of several categories. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATION FOR PRACTICE: according to the study participants, continuous midwifery-led prenatal, perinatal, and postnatal care is a multidimensional and important concept. Given the differences in the health infrastructures of different countries as well as the unique characteristics of pregnancy, higher priorities are recommended to be given to continuous midwifery-led care and its dimensions.
Keywords: Continuity; Continuous care; Midwifery-led care; Qualitative study.
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