'Woman-centred care' in childbirth is a process in which a woman makes choices and is involved in and has control over her care and relationship with her midwife. The aim of this paper is to study the concept of woman-centred care through analysis in the context of childbirth. The attributes, antecedents and consequences of this concept are identified, and a model case, a borderline case and a ...

BACKGROUND Postpartum parental mental health problems pose a serious risk for child development and often remain undetected in postpartum primary care. Within the framework of the German Midwifes Prevention Study, the aim of this study was to investigate the presence of postpartum emotional distress in mothers and fathers, and the detection of distressed parents by midwives in a primary care se...

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects continuous labor support by midwife.

BACKGROUND Midwife facilitated, group models of antenatal care have emerged as an alternative to conventional care both within Australia and internationally. Group antenatal care can be offered in a number of different ways, however usually constitutes a series of sessions co-ordinated by a midwife combining physical assessment, antenatal education and peer support in a group setting. Midwife-l...

A midwife tackled prime minister Gordon Brown on staffing shortages and soaring birth rates at the launch of his Commission on the Future of Nursing and Midwifery at King's College Hospital in south London.

More than 15 % of couples have infertility problems. Thecauses of infertility are equally distributed among men and women. Assisted reproduction is an option which can help many of these couples. Because of ongoing research and development of the infertility treatments the pregnancy outcome after in vitro fertilization can be increased. Embryo transfer (ET) has in the Nordic countries, by tradi...

AIM This article reports on newly qualified midwives' experiences of the core elements of their transition support program; clinical rotations, supernumerary time, study days and midwife-to-midwife support. BACKGROUND There is limited knowledge and understanding of how midwives transition from student to registered midwife and how best to support them during this time. METHOD A qualitative ...

BACKGROUND Obstetric fistula devastates the lives of women and is found most commonly among the poor in resource-limited settings. Unrepaired third- and fourth-degree perineal lacerations have been shown to be the source of approximately one-third of the fistula burden in fistula camps in Kenya. In this study, we assessed potential barriers to accurate identification by Kenyan nurse-midwives of...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the quality of the routine examination of the newborn as carried out by senior house officers (SHOs) and midwives. DESIGN Randomised controlled trial set in a district general hospital in Southeast England. Eligible babies were randomised to a midwife (11) or an SHO (8) who were then video recorded undertaking the routine newborn examination. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Qual...

are apt to instill their principles into the mindes of weake persons, and you well know, if your wife got anything into her Head, all the reason in the World will not persuade her out of it." There is much sophisticated analysis to admire that positions midwives into larger historical debates. South German cities, such as Nuremberg, Augsburg and Munich, controlled their midwives through "sworn ...