How the int ervention migh t workDuring early labour, women are encouraged to keep active, to walkabout and to eat and drink as usual in order to prevent prolongedlabour. Some women are advised to stay at home for as long aspossible. This advice, or being asked to return home, may causesome women to feel unsupported and more anxious, and suchfeelings might adversely affect the ir progress of labour (Wuitchik1989) and satisfaction of childbirth. In the latent phase of labour,women seek out the advice of health professionals to address theirneed for information about the progress of their labour and re-assurance that what they are experiencing is normal. Professionalhome visits, lay home visits, or telephone-based pe er support dur-ing early labour may give assurance to women and relieve theiranxiety and distress. Antepartum relaxation or stress managementtraining might improve women’s ability to cope with labour. Ed-ucational information about the patterns of spontaneous labourmay influence women’s decision making as to whethe r to go tohospital, and may result in the reduction of unnecessary admis-sions during th e l atent phase, which in turn might improve ob-stetrical outcomes. Supportive interventions (emotional support,comfort measures, information and advice, advocacy and support-ing the woman’s partner) (Hodnett 1996) provided by healthcareproviders might encourage women to cope with the ir labour ad-equately and might relieve their anxiety, fear and stress as well asavoiding an unnecessary cascade of obstetrical interventions, andimproving obstetrical and neonatal outcomes. In addition, the rateof prolonged labour, caesarean section, or operative vaginal deliv-ery might decrease.