[Perinatal Health Education: survey of French midwives]

Perinatal Health Education (PHE) is designed to promote mother and child health. This study investigated the midwives' point of view concerning PHE and tried to identify their reported practices in this area.

This was a descriptive, comparative study. Data were collected by means of an online questionnaire between June and December 2009. The study population was composed of voluntary midwives informed about the online questionnaire.

498 midwives took part in the study. Many PHE actions were reported. Private and public health midwives described themselves as being the most active in terms of PHE, especially "support actions". Purely informative actions were preferred (85% of midwives), revealing disparities in dissemination of information. Estimated difficulties in implementing PHE varied according to the type of practice e, with the exception of insufficient training (38 %). Most midwives agreed on the importance of their role in PHE (98%) and the efficacy of PHE for women (79%).

This study helps to more clearly define the diversity of PHE actions implemented by midwives. It also raises the issue of their initial and continuing training in this area and remuneration of PHE actions other than prenatal education.