Development, refinement and future usage of the scale: “Attitudes toward learning in pregnancy” Original Research Article

Given the continued lack of research and evaluation in relation to antenatal education and the real concern for early parenting influences on childhood development, this research surveyed 705 midwives. Their attitudes were analysed and categorised into six themes which were associated with antenatal education, learning and decision making during pregnancy and the midwifeʹs role in antenatal education. The initial finding was that a sizeable minority (up to 30%) of registered midwives has negative attitudes to the womanʹs ability to learn during pregnancy. In response to this finding, the data were factor analysed and refined. Three factors resulted from this process and were named: cognition, motivation and professional issues. The 30-item ATLIP questionnaire accounted for 36% of the total variance. Professional and further research issues arising from this research were discussed.