Patient acceptance of fetal monitoring as a helpful tool.

In 1972, 50 women on a postpartum unit were interviewed to investigate responses to fetal monitoring. Not one woman interviewed had a positive initial response; 31 women had negative initial responses. In 1977, in a replication of the study, 11 women had positive initial responses, 11 had negative initial responses, and 28 had neutral initial responses. Two significant findings: 1) older women initially reacted more positively to fetal monitoring than younger women; and 2) married women initially reacted more positively to fetal monitoring than single women. This indicates a need for nurses to be more sensitive to young, single women's initial responses to fetal monitoring. In the 1977 study subsequent responses were 37 positive, 4 negative, and 9 neutral.