Midwifery

BACKGROUND: Complications due to influenza are contributory factors for maternal deaths in the United Kingdom (UK). Less than half of all pregnant women in the UK receive the influenza vaccination. Increasing immunisation rates for seasonal influenza in pregnant women must remain a public health priority. METHOD: A retrospective cohort study was undertaken, utilising the electronic health record of 4817 women who had given birth at a South London NHS Hospital from 1st January-31st December 2015...

INTRODUCTION: Women can face opposition when exerting autonomous decision-making regarding their birth choices, particularly when the decisions involve going against medical advice and/or outside of national guidelines. Termed 'unconventional birth choices', some research has explored women's reasons and experiences of making such choices, but less is known about the midwives caring for them. OBJECTIVES: To synthesize existing qualitative literature on the views, attitudes, and experiences of midwives caring for women who make unconventional birth choices...

INTRODUCTION: Women within the first 12 months after birth often do not seek professional help for post-childbirth morbidities. This systematic review uses the Behavioural Model of Health Services Use (BMSHU) to assess the barriers and facilitators to women's help-seeking from health professionals during the first twelve months after childbirth. METHOD: A qualitative meta-aggregation was used for the review. Systematic searching of Medline via Ovid, CINAHL, EMBASE and Web of Science revealed an initial 691 papers, of which 48 were reviewed...

OBJECTIVE: In the current Dutch maternity care system, pregnant women who have an indication for an antenatal cardiotocography (CTG) to be undertaken need to be referred from primary midwife-led care to secondary obstetric-led care. Within three different regions in the Netherlands independent primary care midwives perform antenatal CTG in primary care, introduced as a pilot project. The aim of this study was to evaluate the experiences and views of primary care midwives who perform antenatal CTG in primary care...

BACKGROUND: Migrant women are more likely to experience sub-optimal maternity outcomes and are often described in a problematised way. Communication is crucial in maternity and can be compromised if the language of that service is delivered in a language incomprehensible to migrant women. METHODS: Qualitative descriptive study using 9 in-depth individual interviews with Polish women who recently had experience of local maternity services. Recorded interviews were transcribed and thematically analysed...

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of a childbirth preparation course on birth outcomes among nulliparous Jordanian women. DESIGN: A randomized control trial pre-test/post-test design was used to assess the effects of a childbirth preparation course conducted in a military hospital in Amman, Jordan from 1 July to 15 September 2016. A total of 133 low-risk nulliparous women were recruited and randomly assigned to either (1) a control group who received standard care in antenatal clinics or (2) an intervention group who received standard care in antenatal clinics as well as a childbirth preparation course specifically designed for the purpose of this study...

BACKGROUND: The developing world has a significantly high risk of women and babies dying during childbirth. Interprofessional simulation training has improved birth practices and outcomes by impacting clinical and non-technical skills like communication, teamwork, leadership and effective use of resources. While these programs have become a training requirement in many high-income countries, they have not been widely introduced in the low-income, low-resource settings. QUESTION: To explore the use of a structured obstetric and neonatal emergency simulation training program in India...

OBJECTIVE: To explore knowledge of pregnancy related danger signs among women attending antenatal clinics in Papua New Guinea. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey undertaken as part of a wider integrated health and demographic survey. SETTING: Three sites in Papua New Guinea: Hiri District (Central Province), Karkar (Madang Province) and Asaro (Eastern Highlands Province). PARTICIPANTS: 482 women aged 15-44 years. FINDINGS: Almost all (95...

BACKGROUND: Effective woman-nurse interaction is critical in providing quality nursing care and would improve the health outcomes and the level of women's satisfaction with health and nursing services. AIM: To explore how Jordanian nurses and pregnant women perceive their interaction during antenatal visits. METHODS: A descriptive qualitative study was conducted using a purposive sample of twelve pregnant women and twelve nurses. Data were collected through four focus group discussions organized at an antenatal clinic of a large hospital in Jordan...

BACKGROUND: When compared with full-term birth (39 to <42 weeks), early-term birth (37 to <39 weeks) is associated with adverse neonatal outcomes that may impede breastfeeding. Breastfeeding provides numerous benefits to infants and could potentially offset the effects of early-term birth. However, the effect of early-term birth on any and exclusive breastfeeding duration among healthy normal weight infants is unclear. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to examine the association between early-term birth and breastfeeding duration and exclusivity among healthy term infants...

OBJECTIVES: Primary objectives were to establish consensus of opinion for classification of post birth labial trauma and which types of post birth labial trauma require suturing. Secondary objectives were to establish optimal method, material and anaesthetic for suturing labial trauma. DESIGN: Delphi study consisting of 3 rounds. SETTING: UK and Europe PARTICIPANTS: 8 midwives, 4 obstetricians, 7 specialist perineal midwives, 1 consultant midwife and 2 midwifery lecturers all with relevant expertise and or recent, regular clinical experience of assessing and suturing labial trauma from 2 United Kingdom (UK) universities, 12 UK healthcare trusts and 1 European healthcare organisation...

OBJECTIVE: Despite recommendations within postnatal care guidelines, many National Health Service (NHS) hospital trusts in the UK provide an afterbirth, debriefing type service for women who have had a traumatic/distressing birth. Currently there are a lack of insights into what, how, and when this support is provided. The aim of this study was to explore afterbirth provision for women who have had a traumatic/distressing birth in NHS hospital trusts in England. DESIGN: An online survey comprising forced choice and open text comments was disseminated via direct email and social media to NHS hospital trusts in England...

Postpartum depression prevalence rates reach as high as 25% (Gavin, 2006). Negative effects on mothers and children are well established. Although low social support is an important predictor of perinatal depression (Leahy-Warren, McCarthy, and Corcoran, 2012), the value of peer group support remains equivocal and is examined in this pilot study. OBJECTIVE: Evaluations of interventions that focus on social support in real world settings for women experiencing PPD are lacking. In this pilot study we asked how perceived changes over time in three types of social support (significant other, family, and friends) in participants who sought help and attended postpartum peer support groups related to perceived changes in depression over the same time period...

BACKGROUND: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is defined as any degree of glucose intolerance that is observed in the beginning of, or first acknowledged during pregnancy. The prevalence of GDM is estimated to be approximately 15% globally and is expected to increase due to growing numbers of overweight and obesity in women in their reproductive age. The nursing management of GDM in terms of lifestyle modifications (exercise, diet and nutrition) and the taking of diabetes medication, if required, and adherence thereto is crucial to prevent maternal and neonatal-perinatal complications...

BACKGROUND: Psychological stress in pregnancy has been related to different adaptations (physical, emotional and social) of the woman's life during this period. Although maternal stress is a common occurrence in pregnancy, studies indicate that the high levels of stressful life events are a predisposing factor to alcohol consumption in pregnant women. Though postnatal maternal emotional distress has been extensively investigated, little is known about the association between stressful life events and maternal risk behaviors during pregnancy...

BACKGROUND: Fathers' experience of childbirth has been described as both distressing and wonderful, but little has been described in the literature about fathers´ reactions when their partners get life threatening diagnoses such as peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) during the peripartum period. AIM: To learn more about fathers' reactions over their partner's diagnosis of peripartum cardiomyopathy. METHODS: Fourteen fathers, whose partner was diagnosed with PPCM before or after giving birth, were interviewed...

OBJECTIVE: To explore midwives' experiences with and perceptions of patient safety culture in the German-speaking countries. DESIGN AND SETTING: Semi-structured interviews with midwives were conducted between December 2013 and March 2014, whereby the narrative nature of the questions on patient safety culture provided the space for the interviewed midwives to express their own wishes and thoughts freely. The interviews were recorded and transcribed, and the transcripts were anonymized with respect to personal and institutional names...

OBJECTIVE: As advances in prenatal diagnosis increasingly enable detection of life-limiting conditions, end-of-life care may start before birth. Termination of these pregnancies may have been default management, but in the Republic of Ireland, where termination is not a legal option, skilled experience in caring for mothers who continue their pregnancies has developed. This study examines the lived experience of four such mothers. METHOD: A qualitative study was designed using interpretive phenomenological analysis, which examined the maternal experience of continuing pregnancy with a prenatal diagnosis of anencephaly...

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether there is a consensus on what guidance to share with expectant fathers from the prenatal through early infancy period among a multidisciplinary group of professionals with expertise on father involvement. DESIGN: Consensus-building approach using mixed methods involving two rounds of data collection. In Round 1, participants were requested to individually generate content as text messages to share with expectant fathers that a father should know or do for his infant, his partner, and himself starting prenatally and through early infancy...

OBJECTIVE: To explore the potential benefits of skills-based childbirth preparation on first time mother's childbirth self-efficacy. DESIGN: An RCT of an education programme for skills-based childbirth preparation was conducted. Data were examined for significant differences between groups over time and at outcome. SETTING: First time New Zealand mothers completed the requirements of the study in the privacy of their own homes. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred and eighty-two first time mothers who self-selected met eligibility and were recruited to the study...