The 1993 Survey of Recent Mothers: issues in survey design, analysis and influencing policy

The 1993 Survey of Recent Mothers was a statewide postal survey of 2224 women who gave birth in Victoria in 2 weeks in 1993, excepting those who had a stillbirth or whose baby was known to have died. The survey questionnaire was mailed to women 6-7 months after the birth. The response rate, excluding duplicate responses, one woman who had a stillbirth and those whose questionnaires were returned unknown at the mailing address, was 62.5% (1336/2138). The questionnaire covered care in pregnancy, birth and the first 6 months. In each section, women were asked to give an overall rating of care, and to answer questions on specific aspects of care. Closed and open-ended questions were included. The paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the study design, the processes used for developing the questionnaire, methodological issues in analysis using both quantitative and qualitative methods, and relevance of the study to policy.