Integrating Traditional Chinese Medicine into Maternity Care: Development and Evaluation of a Delphi-Based Training Course to Enhance Nurses’ Competency – A Quasi-Experimental Study

Shijie Huang,1,2,* Zhaoying Chen,1,2,* Shiying Cai,3 Ling Chen,1,2 Wei Ren,1,2 Wenzhi Cai1 1Department of Nursing, Shenzhen Hospital, Southern Medical University, Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China; 2School of Nursing, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China; 3School of Public Health and Management, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Wenzhi Cai, Department of Nursing, Shenzhen Hospital, Southern Medical University, Shenzhen, 518101, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]: Traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) has significant advantages in regulating the maternal constitution and promoting the healthy development of the fetus with its unique concept of health and fetal protection. However, there is no systematic training course for maternity nurses. Therefore, this study focused on designing a training course for maternity nurses on TCM health preservation during pregnancy and the perinatal period.Methods: A two-round Delphi process with 18 multidisciplinary experts (clinicians, educators, TCM specialists) was employed to establish consensus on the training course through anonymous iterative feedback. From August 2024 to October 2024, a quasi-experimental design was utilized to conveniently recruit 84 maternity nurses from two hospitals for comparison. Among them, 42 nurses in the observation group received the training curriculum validated through the Delphi method, while 42 nurses in the control group received conventional education. The TCM knowledge, behavioral competence, and clinical competency of nurses in both groups were assessed using a standardized questionnaire before and after the training, to compare the intervention effects.Results: The recovery rates of the two rounds of consultation were 100% and 88.8%, and the authority coefficients of experts were 0.771 and 0.822, respectively. The TCM health preservation during pregnancy and perinatal period training course for maternity nurses was formed, including 4 first-level indicators, 15 second-level indicators and 77 third-level indicators. The results of empirical research showed that the scores of knowledge, behavior ability and competency level of nurses in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P< 0.05).Conclusion: The TCM health preservation during pregnancy and perinatal period training course for maternity nurses is scientific and reliable, which can provide a reference for maternity nurses to learn the knowledge and technology of TCM.Keywords: maternity nurses, training course, traditional Chinese medicine, Delphi, empirical research