Perinatal Care for Women with Spinal Cord Injuries: A Collaborative Workshop for Consensus on Care in Canada

Women with spinal cord injuries who want to have children face unique challenges during preconception, pregnancy, labor, delivery, and postpartum. These challenges include increased risk for bladder problems, pressure sores, spasticity, and autonomic dysreflexia. A workshop was conducted to identify gaps in knowledge, priorities for research, and resource development needed within this field, involving women with SCI and various healthcare professionals. The workshop aimed to improve perinatal care for women with SCI in British Columbia by fostering collaboration and communication between care providers and providing information to care providers through the women with SCI themselves.

• 1
  A lack of knowledge exists for both consumers and care providers regarding reliable information resources to support women with SCI during the perinatal period.
• 2
  There are gaps in access to services and information due to geographical disparities, lack of accessibility of service delivery sites, misconceptions, attitudinal barriers of health care providers, and a lack of specialized knowledge in providers.
• 3
  There is a need for collaboration between consumers and health care providers and among health care providers throughout the perinatal journey to address the fragmented care.