Ability of women to self-classify into the Robson ten-group classification system

Recent guidelines from WHO and the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) state that the Robson ten-group classification system (TGCS) should be universally applied to pregnant women. Such information might enable women to make an informed decision about the place and mode of delivery. We assessed whether women could self-classify correctly according to the TGCS.

A prospective study was conducted in a tertiary level maternity hospital between March 6 and July 31, 2017. We included post-partum women admitted to the puerperium ward. Participants were instructed to complete a multiple-choice questionnaire with a simplified description of TGCS and to classify themselves into one of the ten groups. A practitioner reclassified women into the correct TGCS group. Cohen κ was applied to measure the rate of agreement between these two evaluations.

400 women were enrolled, with a global rate of agreement of 81.8% between women's self-evaluation and the evaluation by the practitioner. A subanalysis showed that the highest rate of agreement was among the group with higher level education (84.0%).

Women of different ages and education backgrounds were able to correctly classify themselves into the TGCS. The higher the educational level, the greater the rate of agreement.