Prunella Mary Briance
Briance in 2016 by Virginia Campbell (fair use)
Born31 January 1926
Died14 July 2017 (2017-07-15) (aged 91)
London
Known forChildbirth campaigner, Founder of The National Childbirth Trust

Prunella Mary Briance (née Chapman) (1926–2017) was the British founder of the National Childbirth Trust and a passionate campaigner to improve the health of women and their experience in childbirth.

Early life

Briance was born on 31 January 1926, in Putney, London, to Eric Haldane Chapman (1887 -1961), a major (later colonel) in the British army, and Vera Lyndall, née Archbold.[1] The family moved to India when Briance was still young, though she returned to England for her secondary education, joining the Women's Royal Naval Service during the Second World War.[2] After the war she studied Russian at London University and that was where she met and married John Briance, a diplomat. The couple lived in Iran,[2] then Cyprus, then London where Briance had two pregnancies, one of which ended in her baby girl dying.[3] They had one son, Richard Briance.[2]

Activism for maternal health

"Invitation to attend antenatal classes"

The NCT (Natural Childbirth Association of Great Britain,[3] later changed to the National Childbirth Trust) was founded in 1956 and is a prominent organisation in the UK which provides ante and post natal support for parents. Briance's work changed the landscape of healthcare provision for maternal health.[citation needed]

Briance suffered two traumatic childbirth experiences, her first delivery in Cyprus, where she overheard doctors and nurses discussing if she would die, but despite trauma had a health baby boy, and two years later in London, where she was harmed during the labour and her baby girl shortly died.[3] Due to these experiences, Briance was determined to change the situation for other women, and successfully raised awareness of options to mothers and fathers during birth.[2][4] She began by advertising in The Times [4] and Daily Telegraph[2] newspapers to find other mothers and supporters to found a new organisation. The response was overwhelming and the launch was commended by many women, including a telegram of 'good luck' from the Queen.[3]

The organisation ran classes for parents based on research from gynaecologist Dr. Grantly Dick-Read, on reducing pain of childbirth in a less medicated manner, with the women leading on decisions in their care. Early NCT teachers included his wife Jessica Dick-Read and Sheila Kitzinger, social anthropologist who authored many books on childbirth and childcare.[5] However the medical profession was not so supportive of the notion that a 'natural' birth did not included appropriate medical advice, where needed, and their supporters were challenged by the British Medical Association,[2] so the name was changed to the National Childbirth Trust.[3]

Dick-Read and Briance had left but the organisation grew steadily over the years to 8,000 members in the 1970s[6] and by the 1980s, 240 local and regional branches, most including both parents in classes about anatomy and physiology, pain control and a partner's role in care.[7] By 2016, the NCT had 300 branches across the UK and Channel Islands and over 100,000 members.[6] Many of Briance's most radical ideas at the time (such as having fathers present in labour wards) are now accepted as common practice, and the overall approach of woman-centred maternity care[8] was endorsed by Government research published in 1993 and became British health care policy.[3]

In 1982, Briance self-published a book Childbirth with confidence: What every woman should know about childbirth, from her presentation at the 6th International Congress of Psychosomatic Obstetrics and Gynaecology in the Reichstag, West Berlin, Germany.[9] The foreword by Professor D.W. Winnicot paediatrician and psychoanalyst stated that only 3% of births to healthy women required medical interventions.[10] Since that period, NCT have continued to influence popular and professional books on maternity care[11] from the work in educating parents-to-be and obstetrics service staff, following the examples of Dick-Read and Briance.[12] The 2011 Scottish government review of health policy including 'pathways of care which are person-centred', a programme called 'Keeping Childbirth Natural and Dynamic (KCND).[13] Credit is also given to the NCT in influencing changes in the birth experiences of women over the last 40 years.[14]

Their model of small social group learning, whilst adding peer pressure,[6] also gives social support for new parents e.g. preparing for breast-feeding are now linked into the NHS advice, and NCT influenced the Equality Act to give breastfeeding women rights to do so in public, without discrimination.[7] NCT also responded formally to the Government report: Midwifery 2020, still echoing Briance's call for health care services to 'make having a baby a more community-focused, personal and positive experience.'[15]

Death and archive

Briance died aged 91 in 2017.[16][17] The archives of the NCT are held at the Wellcome Library in London.[18]

References

  1. ^ Moorhead, Joanna (2021). "Briance [née Chapman], Prunella Mary (1926–2017), promoter of natural childbirth". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000380184. ISBN 9780198614128. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "The mother of happy birth days". The Independent. 26 April 1996. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Prunella Briance, founder of the National Childbirth Trust". The Independent. 4 August 2017. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  4. ^ a b Trust, Wellcome (28 September 2015). "A Brief History of Childbirth: Exploring the National Childbirth Trust Archives". Wellcome Trust Blog. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  5. ^ "Sheila Kitzinger obituary". the Guardian. 12 April 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  6. ^ a b c Kerley, Paul (4 May 2016). "NCT: The National Childbirth Trust's 60 years of advice". BBC News. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  7. ^ a b "Feminist Activism and Scotland's National Childbirth Trust". lhsa.blogspot.co.uk. 7 April 2017. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  8. ^ "House of Commons - Health - Ninth Report". publications.parliament.uk. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  9. ^ "Childbirth with confidence / Prunella Briance". Wellcome Collection. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  10. ^ Winnicott, Donald W. (October 2016), "Foreword to Childbirth with Confidence: By Prunella Briance", The Collected Works of D. W. Winnicott, vol. 5, Oxford University Press, pp. 533–534, doi:10.1093/med:psych/9780190271374.003.0121, ISBN 978-0-19-027137-4, retrieved 9 March 2021
  11. ^ Complete book of pregnancy. Daphne Metland, National Childbirth Trust. London: Thorsons. 2000. ISBN 0-00-414099-0. OCLC 43581673.((cite book)): CS1 maint: others (link)
  12. ^ Nolan, Mary (1998). Antenatal education : a dynamic approach. London: B. Tindall. ISBN 0-7020-2279-9. OCLC 40299970.
  13. ^ Maternity Services Action Group (2011). A refreshed framework for maternity care in Scotland. Scotland. Scottish Government. Edinburgh: Scottish Government. pp. 17–21. ISBN 978-0-7559-9886-9. OCLC 701279679.
  14. ^ Moorhead, Joanna (1996). New generations : 40 years of birth in Britain. Cambridge: H.M.S.O. in collaboration with National Childbirth Trust Pub. ISBN 0-11-702047-8. OCLC 35018045.
  15. ^ Trust), NCT (National Childbirth (10 October 2018). "NCT response: Midwifery 2020". NCT (National Childbirth Trust). Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  16. ^ Moorhead, Joanna (22 August 2017). "Prunella Briance obituary". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  17. ^ "Prunella Briance, founded the National Childbirth Trust – obituary". The Telegraph. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  18. ^ "NCT archive preserved by the Wellcome Library documents 60 years of maternity care and childbirth". 28 September 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
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