Translating developmental origins of health and disease in practice: health care providers’ perspectives

Currently, there is limited knowledge on how health care providers perceive and understand the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD), which may impact how they inform patients and their families throughout the perinatal period. This qualitative descriptive study explored if and how hea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of developmental origins of health and disease 2021-06, Vol.12 (3), p.404-410
Main Authors: Molinaro, Monica L., Evans, Marilyn, Regnault, Timothy R.H., de Vrijer, Barbra
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attitude of Health Personnel
Cardiovascular disease
Clinical medicine
Counseling
Data analysis
Data collection
Diabetes
Disease - etiology
Female
Fetal Development
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Humans
Interviews
Knowledge
Medical research
Obesity
Original Article
Perceptions
Physicians
Pregnancy
Prenatal Care - psychology
Reproductive health
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Summary:Currently, there is limited knowledge on how health care providers perceive and understand the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD), which may impact how they inform patients and their families throughout the perinatal period. This qualitative descriptive study explored if and how health care providers counsel on in utero programming and future health outcomes with parents, both preconception and during pregnancy. One-on-one, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 health care providers from varying health disciplines including obstetrics and gynaecology, midwifery, paediatrics, endocrinology and internal medicine. Audiotaped interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Three themes were identified: Knowledge about DOHaD, Counselling on DOHaD in Practice Settings and Impact of DOHaD on Health. Health care providers not only expressed excitement over the potential health benefits of DOHaD counselling but also indicated barriers to knowledge translation, including a lack of knowledge among providers and a disconnect between basic scientists and practitioners. All health care providers expressed concerns on how and when to introduce the concept of DOHaD when counselling patients and called for the development of practice guidelines. Counselling on DOHaD needs to be framed in a way that is empowering, minimising the potential of coercion and guilt. More interaction and collaboration are needed between health care providers and researchers to identify strategies to support knowledge translation generated from DOHaD research into practice settings.
ISSN:2040-1744
2040-1752
DOI:10.1017/S2040174420000483