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This study investigates Tasmanian rural women’s and health care professionals’ experiences and views of continuity care. A mixed-method approach using a survey questionnaire and semi-structured interviews was adopted. Women who have had rural childbirth experiences from six Tasmanian rural communities and health professionals who are maternity care providers and are currently employed by the health system in Australia were invited to participate in the study to explore women’s experiences and views on continuity of care. The survey found that rural women who gave birth more recently are less likely to experience continuity of carers. Therefore, it aff ects their views on continuity of care and their satisfaction with antenatal care. The interviews confi rm the survey results. Three main themes emerged from the interview data, namely continuity of care; public health care system and continuity of care; and quality of care. Both health professionals and rural women believed in the benefi ts of continuity of carers as it helps women build up trust and relationship with the caregiver. Having various health professionals has been linked with inconsistency of care, impersonal care and mismanagement of information. However, the majority of health professionals and rural women believed that it was almost impossible to have continuity of a main carer in the public hospital system. Women paid more attention on the quality and consistency of care rather than carer. Health care system should take into account these

Item Type:	Conference Extract
Keywords:	rural women, health professionals, continuity of maternity care, rural areas
Research Division:	Health Sciences
Research Group:	Health services and systems
Research Field:	Health services and systems not elsewhere classified
Objective Division:	Health
Objective Group:	Public health (excl. specific population health)
Objective Field:	Public health (excl. specific population health) not elsewhere classified
UTAS Author:	Hoang, Ha (Dr Ha Hoang)
UTAS Author:	Le, Q (Dr Quynh Le)
ID Code:	86237
Year Published:	2013
Deposited By:	UTAS Centre for Rural Health
Deposited On:	2013-08-30
Last Modified:	2014-03-20
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