Do older patients who refuse to participate in a self-management intervention in the Netherlands differ from older patients who agree to participate?
As in many studies, the refusal rate in this study is high, and seems to be related to physical mobility restrictions, travel distance and, partly, to availability of emotional support. These findings may be used to make the recruitment process more effective - for example, by offering transport to the location of the intervention.
In our environment, obstetricians were the most attached to technology and interventions including caesarean section and inductions, midwives the least, while family physicians fell in the middle. While generalisations can be problematic, obstetricians and midwives generally follow a defined and different approach to maternity care. Family physicians are heterogeneous, sometimes practising more like midwives and sometimes more like obstetricians.