Page 37 - Zero for nine: Reducing alcohol use during pregnancy via health counselling and Internet-based computer-tailored feedback

Partner’s influences and other correlates of prenatal alcohol use
Methods
Procedure
Respondents of this cross-sectional study were pregnant women and 2 their partners, recruited through Dutch midwife practices in September
and October of 2009. In the Netherlands, the midwifery system plays a
pivotal role among Dutch pregnant women. Approximately 75 percent
of Dutch women at the beginning of their pregnancy and 36 percent of Dutch women receive care exclusively from a midwife (Wiegers, van der Velden, & Hingstman, 2005). All midwife practices in the Netherlands (approximately 500) were asked to distribute flyers among their clients and respective partners. Each flyer contained separate informational sections for the client and her partner, plus two separate login-codes for each to gain access to the online study questionnaire.
After three weeks, a reminder e-mail was sent to all of the midwife practices. The questionnaires were completed anonymously; however, the combination of log-in codes allowed for pairing of the couples. The number of couples invited to participate by each midwife practice is uncertain. Moreover, because the names of the participating midwife practices were not identified in the online questionnaire, the number of couples per practice who took part in the study remains unclear. Ethics approval for this study was granted by a human research ethics committee (METC Atrium MC – Maaslandziekenhuis; 08-N-50).
Questionnaires
Questionnaires for both the pregnant woman and her partner – which are available upon request – were based on questionnaires from previous studies that applied the I-Change Model (De Vries, et al., 2006a; Dijkstra, de Vries, & Bakker, 1996; Dijkstra, De Vries, & Roijackers, 1998a; Hoving, Mudde, & de Vries, 2007a; Hoving, et al., 2010).
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