Women and birth : journal of the Australian College of Midwives
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Midwifery-led continuity of care has well documented evidence of benefits for mothers and babies, however uptake of these models by Australian maternity services has been slow. ⋯ The QMNC Framework is a useful tool for exploring the facilitators and barriers to the widespread provision of midwifery-led continuity of care.
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Increasingly, pregnant women, as active online media users, incorporate media driven values on childbirth that may not agree with professional midwifery values. In Dutch midwifery practice, online searching for other women's stories is often discouraged. However, online birth stories attract women as a means to learn from one another's experiences of childbirth. ⋯ Social media networks allow women to exchange stories that structure narrating women's childbirth experiences and offer a structure for the lived or future experiences of others. This may have an impact on women's decision-making during pregnancy and childbirth.
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Approaches to health promotion that are collaborative, support strengths inherent in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, and demonstrate respect and understanding for individual communities, have achieved the most positive outcomes to date. ⋯ Through adherence to best practice principles for research with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, implementation and evaluation of health promotion programs can be conducted in mutually acceptable, feasible and sustainable ways that develop capacity within participating health services.
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Comparative Study
Maternal and neonatal outcomes from a comparison of spontaneous and directed pushing in second stage.
To compare the effect of directed or spontaneous maternal pushing effort on duration of second stage labour, perineal injury and neonatal condition at birth. ⋯ Directed pushing is associated with an increased duration of second stage labour and risk of adverse neonatal outcomes. Our study suggests that in the absence of regional analgesia women should be supported to follow their own expulsive urges.
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Pregnant women and their unborn children are at high risk from both pandemic and seasonal influenza. ⋯ Policy makers need to be cognisant of women's concerns and develop resources for both pregnant women and healthcare workers as part of both future pandemic planning and seasonal vaccination efforts.