Every day, millions of women suffer from urinary incontinence. It affects one in three women after childbirth and can have a huge impact on a woman’s physical, mental and social quality of life, whilst also placing pressure on health and social care services.
Drive worked with Health Innovation South West and researchers at the University of Exeter to help create materials for the APPEAL programme, which trains midwives to teach pelvic floor muscle exercises to improve this condition in pregnant women.
As well as creating information posters and leaflets both for pregnant women and midwives, key to the materials was a series of videos that demonstrated how midwives should interact and communicate with patients and guidance on language to explain the sensitive issue. This was achieved through scripted, naturalistic conversations and animation. The videos also extend to helping pregnant women themselves with more digestible, social-focussed content , dispelling myths and demonstrating how to perform the exercises. Furthermore, these videos are available to the general public meaning they can reach and support women from under-served populations in rural and coastal communities.
Funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Programme Grants for Applied Research, and led by researchers at the Universities of Birmingham, Exeter and Warwick with support from NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) South West Peninsula and ARC West Midlands, APPEAL is now helping midwives to know when and how to teach the exercises, and how to support women to perform the exercises so they are less likely to leak after giving birth. The gap in knowledge is steadily closing and Devon midwives and pelvic health physiotherapists are witnessing first-hand the impact of teaching preventative pelvic floor education in antenatal care, where previously it wasn’t routinely provided, or understood – making an impact to women all over the region and beyond.
For more information visit:
https://healthinnovationsouthwest.com/blog/2025/12/22/midwife-training-reducing-women-suffering-with-their-pelvic-floor/