ArticleBMC obesity2015
Feasibility and acceptability of regular weighing, setting weight gain limits and providing feedback by community midwives to prevent excess weight gain during pregnancy: randomised controlled trial and qualitative study.
Article in BMC obesity, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Attenuating Pregnancy Weight Gain-What Works and Why: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Nutrients · 2018Pooled it
- Targeting obstetric providers in interventions for obesity and gestational weight gain: A systematic review.PloS one · 2018Pooled it
- Effect of diet and physical activity based interventions in pregnancy on gestational weight gain and pregnancy outcomes: meta-analysis of individual participant data from randomised trials.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2017Pooled it
- A randomized controlled trial of daily weighing in pregnancy to control gestational weight gain.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2020Trial
- Trial
- Implementing clinical guidelines for gestational weight gain care: a novel application of best-worst scaling to prioritise barriers.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Nutritional Screening During Pregnancy: Women's Views of Weight Monitoring as Part of This Process.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Antenatal care addressing gestational weight gain (GWG): a cross sectional study of pregnant women's reported receipt and acceptability of recommended GWG care and associated characteristics.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2024Article
- Examining demographic and psychosocial factors related to self-weighing behavior during pregnancy and postpartum periods.Preventive medicine reports · 2023Article
- The lived experiences of women exploring a healthy lifestyle, gestational weight gain and physical activity throughout pregnancy.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2022Article
- Healthcare Professional Training Regarding Gestational Weight Gain: Recommendations and Future Directions.Current obesity reports · 2021Review
- Pregnancy and weight monitoring: A feasibility study of weight charts and midwife support.Maternal & child nutrition · 2020Article
- Weighing as part of your care: a feasibility study exploring the re-introduction of weight measurements during pregnancy as part of routine antenatal care.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2020Article
- Supporting women of childbearing age in the prevention and treatment of overweight and obesity: a scoping review of randomized control trials of behavioral interventions.BMC women's health · 2020Article
- A mixed method study evaluating the integration of pregnancy weight gain charts into antenatal care.Maternal & child nutrition · 2019Observational
- Antenatal Weight Management: Women's Experiences, Behaviours, and Expectations of Weighing in Early Pregnancy.Journal of pregnancy · 2016Observational
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundRegular weighing in pregnant women is not currently recommended in many countries but has been suggested to prevent excessive gestational weight gain. This study aimed to establish the feasibility and acceptability of incorporating regular weighing, setting maximum weight gain targets and feedback by community midwives.
methodsLow risk pregnant women cared for by eight community midwives were randomised to usual care or usual care plus the intervention at 10-14 weeks of pregnancy. The intervention involved community midwives weighing and plotting weight on a weight gain chart, setting weight gain limit targets, giving brief feedback at each antenatal appointment and encouraging women to weigh themselves weekly between antenatal appointments. Women and midwives were interviewed about their views of the intervention. The focus of the study was on process evaluation.
resultsCommunity midwives referred 123 women and 115 were scheduled for their dating scan within the study period. Of these, 84/115 were approached at their dating scan and 76/84 (90.5 %) randomised. Data showed a modest difference favouring the intervention group in the percentage of women gaining excessive gestational weight (23.5 % versus 29.4 %). The intervention group consistently reported smaller increases in depression and anxiety scores throughout pregnancy compared with usual care. Most women commented the intervention was useful in encouraging them to think about their weight and believed it should be part of routine antenatal care. Community midwives felt the intervention could be implemented within routine care without adding substantially to consultation length, thus not perceived as adding substantially to their workload.
conclusionsThe intervention was feasible and acceptable to pregnant women and community midwives and was readily implemented in routine care.
trial registrationISRCTN81605162.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.