How to Implement Complementary Therapies for Laboring Women

Abstract

Complementary therapies have been a part of nursing practice for centuries and are supported today as a part of nursing practice by many state boards of nursing. Some of these modalities can be used by nurses as a part of their comprehensive plan of labor support for women during the childbirth experience. This article describes five complementary therapies (aromatherapy, massage, use of birth balls, music therapy, and hydrotherapy), and how one large Midwestern hospital system implemented an educational program for nurses that helped them integrate complementary therapies into their nursing care for laboring women.