Kaiser Franz Josef Spital, Vienna, Austria 1 Prepartal Training Course for Turkish Speaking Women on Mother and Child Care Susanne Heller Kaiser Franz Josef Spital, Vienna, Austria

2 Aims Improving knowledge of mothers-to-be on themes concerning pregnancy, birth, postpartal period and the child during its first 6 months of life Empowerment of women Improving working situation of staff

Kaiser Franz Josef Spital, Vienna, Austria 3 Starting point and recruitment Starting point About 40% of the women giving birth at our maternity ward come from Turkish speaking families Poor health literacy, often little or no German spoken Professional interpreter only present in the mornings Up to now, Turkish speaking women hardly ever attended programmes Recruitment Invitation of Turkish speaking women during routine check-up in 28th week of gestation Posters and hand-outs Invitation of in and outdoor patients on the day of the course

Kaiser Franz Josef Spital, Vienna, Austria 4 Implementation of course Preparation in collaboration with local womens´ health care center FEM SÜD Three complete courses of 4 x 2 hours (held once per week) 3 sessions held by Turkish speaking female doctor and community midwife 1 session held by paediatrician (with female Turkish interpreter) Designed according to the wishes of Patients Staff Written information material was provided

Kaiser Franz Josef Spital, Vienna, Austria 5 Themes and methods The most important topics Gymnastics and nutrition How to use the Austrian health system Fears and different ways how to relax Breastfeeding Sexuality and contraception Post partal depression The child during its first 6 months of life Methods Lessons and discussions Games Opportunity for private questions

Kaiser Franz Josef Spital, Vienna, Austria 6 Results and conclusions Results Women experienced great increase in knowledge and feeling of empowerment Staff did not experience much improvement in working conditions, mainly due to short duration of measure Future actions Abridged course is to be continued (similar to service offered to Austrian women) Courses in other languages in preparation Seperate program for men in preparation