BACKGROUND: Experience of reduced fetal movements is a common reason for consulting health care in late pregnancy. There is an association between reduced fetal movements and stillbirth.

AIM: To explore why women decide to consult health care due to reduced fetal movements at a specific point in time and investigate reasons for delaying a consultation.

METHODS: A questionnaire was distributed at all birth clinics in Stockholm during 2014, to women seeking care due to reduced fetal movements. In total, 3555 questionnaires were collected, 960 were included in this study. The open-ended question; "Why, specifically, do you come to the clinic today?" was analyzed using content analysis as well as the complementary question "Are there any reasons why you did not come to the clinic earlier?"

RESULTS: Five categories were revealed: Reaching dead line, Receiving advice from health care professionals, Undergoing unmanageable worry, Contributing external factors and Not wanting to jeopardize the health of the baby. Many women stated that they decided to consult care when some time with reduced fetal movements had passed. The most common reason for not consulting care earlier was that it was a new experience. Some women stated that they did not want to feel that they were annoying, or be perceived as excessively worried. Not wanting to burden health care unnecessarily was a reason for prehospital delay.

CONCLUSION: Worry about the baby is the crucial reason for consulting care as well as the time which has passed since the women first experienced decreased fetal movements.

Background: Decreased fetal movement is associated with adverse perinatal outcome, including stillbirth. Objectives: To investigate perinatal outcome for women who seek consultation due to reduced fetal movements in late pregnancy. Methods: All women (gestational week 28+), who came to one of the seven obstetric clinics in the Stockholm region, Sweden, in 2014 due to concerns for decreased fetal movements, were asked to fill in a questionnaire and to give informed consent to follow-up of their child in the medical birth register. Preliminary results: In total 2584 women completed the questionnaire, 75 % of the women were born in Sweden and 72% were primiparas. The women were aged <19-24 (10%), 25-34 (66%) 35->40 (24%) and two-thirds had a university education. Almost one third (28%) of the women sought health care more than once due to decreased fetal movement during their pregnancy. Sixty eight percent of the women experienced decreased fetal movement for 24 hours or more before the came to the hospital for an examination of the fetus.  Data from the medical birth registry says that 90% of the women gave birth to a child after a full-term pregnancy and 72 per cent had a vaginal birth. Conclusion: The analysis is in progress, we will have more data to present in September. Funding: The Little Child´s Foundation, Sophiahemmet Foundation, The Swedish National Infant Foundation and Capo’s Research Foundation funded this study.

BACKGROUND: Pregnant women sometimes worry about their unborn baby's health, often due to decreased fetal movements. The aim of this study was to examine how women, who consulted health care due to decreased fetal movements, describe how the baby had moved less or differently.

METHODS: Women were recruited from all seven delivery wards in Stockholm, Sweden, during 1/1 - 31/12 2014. The women completed a questionnaire after it was verified that the pregnancy was viable. A modified content analysis was used to analyse 876 questionnaires with the women's responses to, "Try to describe how your baby has moved less or had changes in movement".

RESULTS: Four categories and six subcategories were identified: "Frequency" (decreased frequency, absence of kicks and movement), "Intensity" (weaker fetal movements, indistinct fetal movements), "Character" (changed pattern of movements, slower movements) and "Duration". In addition to the responses categorised in accordance with the question, the women also mentioned how they had tried to stimulate the fetus to move and that they had difficulty in distinguishing fetal movements from contractions. Further, they described worry due to incidents related to changed pattern of fetal movements.

CONCLUSION: Women reported changes in fetal movement concerning frequency, intensity, character and duration. The challenge from a clinical perspective is to inform pregnant women about fetal movements with the goal of minimizing unnecessary consultations whilst at the same time diminishing the length of pre-hospital delay if the fetus is at risk of fetal compromise.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: Not applicable.

Background: Pregnant women sometimes worry about their unborn baby’s health, often due to decreased fetal movements. Objectives: To examine how women, who consulted health care due to decreased fetal movements, describe how the baby had moved less or differently. Methods: Women were recruited from all seven delivery wards in Stockholm, Sweden, during 1/1 – 31/12 2014.The women completed a questionnaire after it was verified that the pregnancy was viable. A modified content analysis was used to analyse 876 questionnaires with the women’s responses to, “Try to describe how your baby has moved less or had changes in movement”. Results: Four categories and six subcategories were identified: “Frequency” (decreased frequency, absence of kicks and movement), “Intensity” (weaker fetal movements, indistinct fetal movements), “Character” (changed pattern of movements, slower movements) and “Duration”. In addition to the responses categorised in accordance with the question, the women also mentioned how they had tried to stimulate the fetus to move and that they had difficulty in distinguishing fetal movements from contractions. Further, they described worry due to incidents related to changed pattern of fetal movements. Conclusion: Women reported changes in fetal movement concerning frequency, intensity, character and duration. The challenge from a clinical perspective is to inform pregnant women about fetal movements with the goal of minimizing unnecessary consultations whilst at the same time diminishing the length of pre-hospital delay if the fetus is at risk of fetal compromise.

Funding: The Little Child´s Foundation, Sophiahemmet Foundation, The Swedish National Infant Foundation and Capo’s Research Foundation funded this study.

BACKGROUND: decreased fetal movement is a reason for women to seek health care in late pregnancy.

OBJECTIVE: to examine what pregnant women who present with decreased fetal movements want to communicate to health care professionals and to other women in the same situation.

DESIGN: a qualitative descriptive study.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: questionnaires were distributed in all seven labour wards in Stockholm from 1 January to 31 December 2014 to women who consulted care due to decreased fetal movements. In total, 3555 questionnaires were completed of which 1 000 were included in this study. The women's responses to the open ended question: "Is there something you want to communicate to health care professionals who take care of women with decreased fetal movement or to women who experience decreased fetal movements?", were analysed with manifest content analysis.

FINDING: three categories were revealed about requests to health care professionals: Pay attention to the woman and take her seriously, Rapid and adequate care and Improved information on fetal movements. Regarding what the women want to communicate to other pregnant women, four categories were revealed: Contact health care for check-up, Pay attention to fetal movement, Recommended source of information and Practical advice.

CONCLUSION: pregnant women who consult health care due to decreased fetal movements want to be taken seriously and receive rapid and adequate care with the health of the infant as the primary priority. The women requested uniform information about decreased fetal movements. They wished to convey to others in the same situation the importance of consulting care once too often rather than one time too few.