DEVELOPMENT, REFINEMENT AND FUTURE USAGE OF THE SCALE - ATTITUDES TOWARD LEARNING IN PREGNANCY

Given the continued lack of research and evaluation in relation to ant enatal education and the real concern for early parenting influences o n childhood development, this research surveyed 705 midwives. Their at titudes were analysed and categorised into six themes which were assoc iated with antenatal education, learning and decision making during pr egnancy and the midwife's role in antenatal education. The initial fin ding was that a sizeable minority (up to 30%) of registered midwives h as negative attitudes to the woman's ability to learn during pregnancy . In response to this finding, the data were factor analysed and refin ed. Three factors resulted from this process and were named: cognition , motivation and professional issues. The 30-item ATLIP questionnaire accounted for 36% of the total variance. Professional and further rese arch issues arising from this research were discussed.