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Categorizing Fetal Heart Rate Variability With And Without Visual Aids, Amanda J. Ashdown, Mark W. Scerbo, Lee A. Belfore Ii, Stephen S. Davis, Alfred Z. Abuhamad

Psychology Faculty Publications

Objective This study examined the ability of clinicians to correctly categorize images of fetal heart rate (FHR) variability with and without the use of exemplars.

Study Design A sample of 33 labor and delivery clinicians inspected static FHR images and categorized them into one of four categories defined by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) based on the amount of variability within absent, minimal, moderate, or marked ranges. Participants took part in three conditions: two in which they used exemplars representing FHR variability near the center or near the boundaries of each range, and a third …

Categorizing Fetal Heart Rate Variability With And Without Visual Aids, Amanda Jane Ashdown

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This present study examined the ability of clinicians and novices to correctly categorize fetal heart rate (FHR) variability with and without the use of exemplars. Clinicians and undergraduate students were asked to inspect FHR images and determine into which of four categories they belonged. Each participant took part in three conditions: one in which they were provided exemplars of prototypical FHR variability to use during their categorization task, another in which they were provided exemplars of nonprototypical FHR variability to use in their task, and a control condition in which no exemplars were available. The results showed that experts were …