Improving health behaviours during pregnancy: a new direction for the pregnancy handheld record

Shelley A Wilkinson1, Yvette D Miller

  • 1School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. s.wilkinson@uq.edu.au

Obstetric documentation processes may influence the clinical, behavioural, and psychological outcomes of pregnancy, although recent alterations to integrate obstetric documentation with pregnancy handheld records have been unsuccessful. Woman-held records as a companion to usual obstetric documentation have the potential to improve pregnancy-related health behaviours with a demonstrated association with maternal and infant health outcomes, and recommendations for their format and content are provided.

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