Lactnetters,
    I have been lurking and learning for awhile.  I am a nurse with a
background in labor and delivery, as well as mother-baby care.  My
passionate interests are breastfeeding and care of women during labor and
birth.  I am working on my dissertation at the University of Texas at Austin
and wanted to study actions nurses take to help mothers cope with labor and
make progress during labor.  Unfortunately, strategies to evaluate nurses'
actions are very limited.  Without being able to measure nurses' actions to
enhance mothers' labors, it is difficult to know if or how nurses might
influence birth outcomes.  So for my dissertation I am developing a
questionnaire on nurses' action to enhance labor.
    I know that some of you are intrapartum nurses, and many of you work in
hospitals.  I wondered if you could spread the word about my questionnaire
to those labor and delivery nurses who might be interested.  So far, over
300 nurses completed the original version of the questionnaire.  Based on
those responses, I was able to shorten and refine that survey to its current
form.  In order for it to be accurate, I need another large group of labor
and delivery nurses to complete the revised version.
    Here is the web address for the on-line version of the questionnaire.
http://wnt.cc.utexas.edu/~sleutel/survey/
     I'd be very grateful if you would post or forward the web address to
any LD nurses that you think would be interested in participating!
    If you want a paper copy of the questionnaire or you have friends you'd
like to give paper copies to, please email me at [log in to unmask] or
[log in to unmask]  Both versions begin with an information page
that explains everything in more detail.  With both versions, there is space
to write comments.  If you want a reply to your comments or questions,
please email me directly.  Both versions are anonymous, so I cannot respond
to questions from the survey because I won't know who you are!
    I think it is critically important to base our actions on research.  I
hope that by studying this topic, I can help nurses provide better care to
laboring women and their families.  Like breastfeeding, we have come a long
way with hospital practices, but we still have a long way to go.  Thank you
very much for your support!
    Martha Sleutel, RN, CNS, phD candidate

             ***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html