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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Gestational diabetes and postnatal depressive symptoms: A prospective cohort study in Western China.
Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) can lead to adverse birth outcomes, but its effect on postnatal depression has not been thoroughly investigated, especially in Asian populations. ⋯ Chinese women with GDM were more susceptible to postnatal depression than others without the condition, despite their depressive symptoms reducing over time after childbirth. It is thus important to raise awareness of postnatal depression amongst healthcare professionals who care for women with GDM.