Antenatal education

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the barriers LGBTQ+ people may face in accessing antenatal education and provides relevant information to consider in the delivery of such education. Antenatal education involves structured information sharing regarding the intrapartum and postnatal period during the antenatal period. Research surrounding antenatal education does not appear to be in large agreement with itself on a variety of key aspects such as the benefits, recommended content, structure, or language. There are also no guidelines or systematic regulation of antenatal education in the United Kingdom. Therefore, a variety of modalities of antenatal education can be found, claiming different benefits and delivered in different manners. These modalities can be private or through public health services. As with all other health care and health promotion, services provided by the state should be evidence based. However, pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare remain influenced by a variety of social, cultural, geographical, and sociopolitical phenomena and various modalities can be impacted by such aspects.